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Rf*,  •;»iA)n:)!-:V.'i.  5a»:»->' 


THE    BIOGRAPHICAL   EDITION 

OF   THE    WORKS    OF 

ROBERT    LOUIS    STEVENSON 

ISLAND    NIGHTS' 
ENTERTAINMENTS 


THE  BIOGRAPHICAL  EDITION 
OF  STEVENSON'S  WORKS 


NOVELS  AND  ROMANCES 
TREASURE  ISLAND 
PRINCE  OTTO 
KIDNAPPED 
THE  BLACK  ARROW 
THE  MASTER  OF  BALLANTRAB 
THE  WRONG  BOX 
THE  WRECKER 
DAVID  BALFOUR 
THE  EBB-TIDE 
WEIR  OF  HERMISTON 
ST.  IVES 

SHORTER  STORIES 
NEW  ARABIAN  NIGHTS 
THE  DYNAMITER 
THE  MERRY  MEN.  eentaininz  DR.  JEKYLL 

AND  MR.  HYDE 
ISLAND  NIGHTS'  ENTERTAINMENTS 

ESS  A  YS,  TRA  VELS  &»  SKETCHES 
AN  INLAND  VOYAGE 
TRAVELS  WITH  A  DONKEY 
VIRGINIBUS  PUERISQUE 
FAMILIAR  STUDIES 
THE  AMATEUR  EMIGRANT,  e0f»tmiHi$if  THE 

SILVERADO  SQUATTERS 
MEMORIES  AND  PORTRAITS 
IN  THE  SOUTH  SEAS 
ACROSS  THE  PLAINS 
ESSAYS  OF  TRAVEL  AND  IN  THE  ART  OF 

WRITING 
«-AY  MORALS  AND  OTHER  PaPEP 

POEMS 
COMPlSTE  POEMS   

THE  LETTERS  OF  ROBERT  LOUIS 

STEVENSON.     4  vols. 
THE  LIFE  OF  ROBERT  LOUIS  STEVENSON 

By  Graham  Balfour.     Abridifed  Edition  in  one  volumo 


Thirty-one  volumes.     Sold  singly  or  in  sets 
Per  volume.  Cloth,  $i.ao  net:  Limp  Leather,  Sj.jo  net 

Charles  Scribner's  Sons,  New  York 


BIOGRAPHICAL     E  DITION 


ISLAND   NIGHTS' 
ENTERTAINMENTS 


BY 

ROBERT    LOUIS    STEVENSON 


WITH  A  PREFACE   BT  MRS.  STEFENSON 


NEW  YORK 

CHARLES   SCRIBNER'S   SONS 

1917 


Copyright,  i8g2y  i8qs 
By  Robert  Louis  Stevenson 

Copyright,  jgos 
By  Charles  Scribner's  Sons 


.iSH  I 


PREFACE 

TO 

THE    BIOGRAPHICAL    EDITION 

AMONG  our  English  friends  whom  we  first 
met  in  Bournemouth  were  Sir  Percy  Shel- 
ley, the  son  of  the  poet,  and  his  charming 
wife.  They  lived  at  Boscombe  Manor,  in  a  ram- 
bling, comfortable  house  set  in  the  midst  of  trees 
and  lawn  and  shrubbery,  where  Sir  Percy  was  al- 
ways seriously  busied  in  play  of  a  more  or  less  prac- 
tical nature.  He  even  worked  with  carpenter's  tools 
—  much  to  the  disgust  of  his  butler,  who  once  gave 
warning  for  that  reason,  his  dignity  being  unable 
to  stand  the  strain  of  his  master's  low  occupation. 
Sir  Percy  also  took  photographs  in  a  studio  he 
helped  to  build  with  his  own  hands.  For  back- 
grounds for  his  pictures  he  painted  out-of-door 
scenes  in  the  most  realistic  manner,  his  sitters  being 

Copyright,  1905,  by  Charles  Scribner's  Sons 
4   *^    I     ^     ^   '  > 

*±  <::-  "--i  'i  ±  'J 


vi  PREFACE 

posed  on  a  piece  of  canvas  made  to  represent  a 
greensward. 

One  wing  of  the  house  had  been  turned  into 
a  private  theatre  holding  about  three  hundred 
guests.  All  the  stage  accessories  were  planned  and 
many  of  them  made  by  Sir  Percy.  Both  he  and 
Lady  Shelley  took  part  in  the  plays  —  usually  old- 
fashioned  melodramas  —  that  they  produced  for 
the  pleasure  and  amusement  of  their  friends.  Of 
these  melodramas  Sir  Percy  had  a  large  assortment, 
principally  by  an  author,  even  then  almost  for- 
gotten, named  Fitzball.  After  Sir  Percy's  death 
(my  husband's  dedication  to  The  Master  of  Bal- 
lantrae  reached  him  just  before  the  end)  the  little 
theatre  being  closed  forever,  Lady  Shelley  gave  the 
stock  of  Fitzball  melodramas  to  my  husband. 

Fitzball,  following  the  example  of  greater  dram- 
atists, took  ideas  for  his  plays  where  he  could 
find  them,  and  after  changing  or  elaborating  them 
as  the  occasion  required,  reproduced  them  as  melo- 
dramas. One  of  these,  adapted  from  an  old 
German  legend,  caught  my  husband's  fancy;  he 
spoke  of  it  several  times  when  we  were  living  in 


PREFACE  vii 

Honolulu,  as  being,  in  its  ingenuity  and  imagina- 
tive qualities,  singularly  like  the  Hawaiian  tales. 
No  doubt  Fitzball's  melodrama  differed  widely 
from  the  original  German  Bottle  Imp;  certainly 
there  was  very  little  resemblance  between  his  ver- 
sion and  my  husband's  story  that  was  meant  to 
appeal  more  particularly  to  the  native  mind.  The 
tale  was  first  published  in  England  in  Black  and 
White,  and  then  translated  by  one  of  the  mission- 
aries into  the  Samoan  tongue  for  the  Sulu  (the 
torch  of  Samoa)  under  the  title  of  0  Le  Fangu 
Aitu,  running  in  weekly  numbers  as  a  serial. 

The  Bottle  Imp  was  the  first  piece  of  fiction 
ever  offered  to  the  Samoan  people,  its  publication 
raising  the  circulation  of  the  paper  to  an  unpre- 
cedented extent.  Samoans  are  in  the  habit  of 
speaking  in  parables;  they  found  many  different 
morals  in  The  Bottle  Imp,  some  very  ingeniously 
extracted.  Yet  the  story  was  so  circumstantial  in 
its  details,  and  its  incidents  seemed  so  like  reality, 
that  doubts  would  occasionally  assail  some  inquiring 
mind ;  perhaps,  after  all,  it  might  be  true,  and  the 
magic  bottle  still  be  in  existence.     We  wondered 


VUl 


PREFACE 


why  so  many  of  our  native  visitors  demanded  a 
view  of  the  large  safe  in  Vailima,  and  were  puzzled 
by  the  expression  of  disappointment  that  crossed 
their  faces  when  they  were  shown  its  interior  and 
saw  that  it  contained  nothing  more  than  papers 
and  a  little  money.  We  afterwards  discovered  there 
was  a  popular  belief  that  Tusitala  still  possessed 
the  magic  bottle,  and  the  great  iron  safe  had  been 
placed  in  Vailima  solely  for  its  protection. 

The  magic  bottle  was  the  natural  explanation  of 
the  source  of  Tusitala's  immense  wealth,  which 
enabled  him  not  only  to  purchase  many  tins  of 
ship's  biscuit  and  barrels  of  salt  beef,  but  to  regale 
his  Samoan  friends  in  the  most  princely  fashion 
on  cans  of  salmon  and  other  expensive  foreign 
luxuries.  I  do  not  understand  what  civilising  effect 
the  story  of  The  Bottle  Imp  was  supposed  to  have 
on  the  natives,  but  I  cannot  think  it  quite  fulfilled 
the  expectations  of  the  missionary  who  translated 
it.  At  all  events,  The  Isle  of  Voices  was  allowed 
to  remain  in  the  obscurity  of  the  'Palangi  (English) 
language,  and  was  not  translated,  as  had  been  in- 
tended, into  Samoan. 


PREFACE  ix 

On  our  first  South  Sea  cruise  we  stopped,  among 
other  places,  at  Fakarava,  in  the  Dangerous  Archi- 
pelago. Leaving  the  yacht  Casco  in  the  lagoon, 
my  husband  hired  a  little  cottage  on  the  beach, 
where  we  lived  for  several  weeks.  Fakarava  is  an 
atoll  of  the  usual  horseshoe  shape,  so  narrow  that 
one  can  walk  across  it  in  ten  minutes,  but  of  great 
circumference;  it  lay  so  little  above  the  sea  level 
that  one  had  a  sense  of  insecurity,  justified  by  the 
terrible  disasters  following  the  last  hurricane  in 
the  group.  Not  far  from  where  we  lived  the 
waves  had  recently  swept  over  the  narrow  strip  of 
coral  during  a  storm. 

Though  we  had  before  us  the  evidences  of  what 
had  happened,  and  might  happen  again,  our  life 
on  the  island  passed  in  a  gentle  monotony  of  peace. 
At  sunrise  we  walked  from  our  front  door  into  the 
warm,  shallow  waters  of  the  lagoon  for  our  bath; 
we  cooked  our  breakfast  on  the  remains  of  an  old 
American  cooking-stove  I  discovered  on  the  beach, 
and  spent  the  rest  of  the  morning  sorting  over  the 
shells  we  had  found  the  previous  day.  After  lunch 
and  a  siesta,  we  crossed  the  island  to  the  wind- 


X  PREFACE 

ward  side  and  gathered  more  shells.  Sometimes 
we  would  find  the  strangest  fish  stranded  in  pools 
between  the  rocks  by  the  outgoing  tide,  many  of 
them  curiously  shaped  and  brilliantly  coloured; 
some  of  the  most  gorgeous  were  poisonous  to  eat, 
and  capable  of  inflicting  very  unpleasant  wounds 
with  their  fins.  I  remember  our  captain  suffered 
during  all  the  remainder  of  our  voyage  from  a 
numbness,  resembling  paralysis,  in  one  of  his 
fingers  that  he  had  scratched  while  handling  a 
strangle  fish  with  a  beak  like  a  parrot. 

The  close  of  the  placid  day  marked  the  begin- 
ning of  the  most  agreeable  part  of  the  twenty-four 
hours;  it  was  the  time  of  the  moon,  and  the 
shadows  that  fell  from  the  cocoanut  leaves  were 
so  sharply  defined  that  one  involuntarily  stepped 
over  them.  After  a  simple  dinner,  and  a  dip  in 
the  soft  sea,  we  sat  expectant  of  our  invariable 
visitor,  the  governor  of  the  island,  M.  Donat 
Rimareau.  There  were  no  white  men  on  the  island 
that  I  remember,  it  not  being  the  season  for  pearl 
fishing,  though  now  and  again  a  schooner  with  its 
French  captain  would  appear  and  disappear  like 
a  phantom  ship. 


PREFACE  xi 

While  the  days  were  almost  intolerably  hot,  with 
the  setting  of  the  sun  a  gentle  breeze  sprang  up, 
cooling  the  air  to  a  comfortable  temperature.  We 
spent  the  evenings  in  the  moonlight,  sitting  on  our 
mattresses  that  were  spread  out  on  the  verandah, 
the  only  chair  being  reserved  for  our  guest.  Our 
conversation  with  M.  Rimareau,  who  was  half 
Tahitian,  and  altogether  delightful,  was  at  first 
rather  of  the  Shakespeare  and  musical  glasses 
order,  but  after  the  recital  of  several  Scottish 
legends  —  I  remember  particularly  my  husband's 
telling  the  story  of  Ticonderoga  —  the  governor 
felt  more  at  his  ease,  and  gradually  he  became  the 
narrator  and  we  the  spellbound  listeners.  Night 
after  night  we  literally  sat  at  his  feet  entranced  and 
thrilled  by  stories  of  Tahiti  and  the  Paumotus, 
always  of  a  supernatural  character. 

There  is  a  strange  sect  in  Fakarava  called  The 
Whistlers,  resembling  the  spiritualists  of  our  coun- 
try, but  greater  adepts.  When  M.  Rimareau  spoke 
of  these  people  and  their  superstitions  his  voice 
sank  almost  to  a  whisper,  and  he  cast  fearful 
glances  over  his  shoulder  at  the  black  shadows  of 


xii  PREFACE 

the  palms.  "  Who  knows,"  said  he,  "  how  much 
truth  there  may  be  in  it  all?  It  is  a  strange 
country,  and  I,  myself,  have  seen  and  heard  things 
that  are  not  to  be  explained  away."  I  remember 
one  of  the  stories  was  of  the  return  of  the  soul 
of  a  dead  child,  the  soul  being  wrapped  in  a  leaf 
and  dropped  in  at  the  door  of  the  sorrowing 
parents. 

I  am  sure  that  when  my  husband  came  to  write 
The  Isle  of  Voices  he  had  our  evenings  in  Faka- 
rava  and  the  stories  of  M.  Rimareau  in  his  mind. 
I  know  that  I  never  read  The  Isle  of  Voices  with- 
out a  mental  picture  rising  before  me  of  the  lagoon, 
and  the  cocoa  palms,  and  the  wonderful  moonlight 

of  Fakarava. 

F.  V.  DE  G.  S. 


TO 

THOSE   OLD    SHIPMATES    AMONG   THE   ISLANDS 

HARRY    HENDERSON 

BEN    HIRD 

JACK    BUCKLAND 

THEIR    FRIEND 

R.  L.  S. 


CONTENTS 

The  Beach  of  Falesa  :   being  the  Narrative  of 

A  South-Sea  Trader 

Page 

I    A  South-Sea  Bridal 3 

II    The  Ban 26 

III  The  Missionary 67 

IV  Devil-work 90 

V    Night  in  the  Bush 124 

The  Bottle  Imp 151 

The  Isle  of  Voices 217 


THE    BEACH    OF    FALESA 


THE   BEACH   OF    FALESA 

CHAPTER    I 

A   SOUTH-SEA    BRIDAL 

I  SAW  that  island  first  when  it  was  neither 
night  nor  morning.  The  moon  was  to  the 
west,  setting,  but  still  broad  and  bright. 
To  the  east,  and  right  amidships  of  the  dawn, 
which  was  all  pink,  the  day-star  sparkled  like  a 
diamond.  The  land-breeze  blew  in  our  faces,  and 
smelt  strong  of  wild  lime  and  vanilla ;  other  things 
besides,  but  these  were  the  most  plain;  and  the 
chill  of  it  set  me  sneezing.  I  should  say  I  had  been 
for  years  on  a  low  island  near  the  line,  living  for 
the  most  part  solitary  among  natives.  Here  was  a 
fresh  experience;  even  the  tongue  would  be  quite 
strange  to  me;  and  the  look  of  these  woods  and 
mountains,  and  the  rare  smell  of  them,  renewed 
my  blood. 

Copyright,  1892,  1893,  ^895,  by  Robert  Louis  Stevenson. 


4-   .  .^..,;.JSLAND    NIGHTS 

The  captain  blew  out  the  binnacle-lamp. 

"  There !  "  said  he,  "  there  goes  a  bit  of  smoke, 
Mr.  Wiltshire,  behind  the  break  of  the  reef. 
That 's  Falesa,  where  your  station  is,  the  last  vil- 
lage to  the  east ;  nobody  lives  to  windward  —  I 
don't  know  why.  Take  my  glass,  and  you  can 
make  the  houses  out." 

I  took  the  glass;  and  the  shores  leaped  nearer, 
and  I  saw  the  tangle  of  the  woods  and  the  breach 
of  the  surf,  and  the  brown  roofs  and  the  black 
insides  of  houses  peeped  among  the  trees. 

"  Do  you  catch  a  bit  of  white  there  to  the 
east'ard?"  the  captain  continued.  "That's  your 
house.  Coral  built,  stands  high,  veranda  you  could 
walk  on  three  abreast;  best  station  in  the  South 
Pacific.  When  old  Adams  saw  it,  he  took  and 
shook  me  by  the  hand.  '  I  've  dropped  into  a  soft 
thing  here,'  says  he.  '  So  you  have,'  says  I,  '  and 
time  too ! '  Poor  Johnny !  I  never  saw  him  again 
but  the  once,  and  then  he  had  changed  his  tune 
—  could  n't  get  on  with  the  natives,  or  the  whites, 
or  something;  and  the  next  time  we  came  round 
there,  he  was  dead  and  buried.     I  took  and  put 


THE    BEACH    OF    FALESA        5 

up  a  bit  of  a  stick  to  him :  '  John  Adams,  obit 
eighteen  and  sixty-eight.  Go  thou  and  do  Hke- 
wise.'  I  missed  that  man.  I  never  could  see  much 
harm  in  Johnny." 

"What  did  he  die  of?"  I  inquired. 

"  Some  kind  of  sickness,"  says  the  captain. 
*'  It  appears  it  took  him  sudden.  Seems  he  got 
up  in  the  night,  and  filled  up  on  Pain  Killer  and 
Kennedy's  Discovery.  No  go  —  he  was  booked 
beyond  Kennedy.  Then  he  had  tried  to  open  a 
case  of  gin.  No  go  again  —  not  strong  enough. 
Then  he  must  have  turned  to  and  run  out  on  the 
veranda,  and  capsized  over  the  rail.  When  they 
found  him,  the  next  day,  he  was  clean  crazy  — 
carried  on  all  the  time  about  somebody  watering 
his  copra.     Poor  John !  " 

"Was  it  thought  to  be  the  island?"  I  asked. 

"  Well,  it  was  thought  to  be  the  island,  or  the 
trouble,  or  something,"  he  replied.  "  I  never  could 
hear  but  what  it  was  a  healthy  place.  Our  last 
man,  Vigours,  never  turned  a  hair.  He  left  be- 
cause of  the  beach  —  said  he  was  afraid  of  Black 
Jack  and  Case  and  Whistling  Jimmie,   who  was 


6  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

still  alive  at  the  time,  but  got  drowned  soon  after- 
ward when  drunk.  As  for  old  Captain  Randall, 
he 's  been  here  any  time  since  eighteen- forty, 
forty-five.  I  never  could  see  much  harm  in  Billy, 
nor  much  change.  Seems  as  if  he  might  live  to 
be  Old  Kafoozleum.     No,  I  guess  it 's  healthy." 

"  There  's  a  boat  coming  now,"  said  I.  "  She  's 
right  in  the  pass ;  looks  to  be  a  sixteen-foot  whale ; 
two  white  men  in  the  stern-sheets." 

"  That 's  the  boat  that  drowned  Whistling  Jim- 
mie !  "  cried  the  captain ;  ''  let 's  see  the  glass. 
Yes,  that 's  Case,  sure  enough,  and  the  darkie. 
They  Ve  got  a  gallows  bad  reputation,  but  you 
know  what  a  place  the  beach  is  for  talking.  My 
belief,  that  Whistling  Jimmie  was  the  worst  of 
the  trouble ;  and  he 's  gone  to  glory,  you  see. 
What  '11  you  bet  they  ain't  after  gin  ?  Lay  you 
five  to  two  they  take  six  cases." 

When  these  two  traders  came  aboard  I  was 
pleased  with  the  looks  of  them  at  once,  or,  rather, 
with  the  looks  of  both,  and  the  speech  of  one.  I 
was  sick  for  white  neighbours  after  my  four  years 
at    the    line,    which    I    always    counted    years    of 


THE    BEACH    OF    FALESA        7 

prison;  getting  tabooed,  and  going  down  to  the 
Speak  House  to  see  and  get  it  taken  off;  buying 
gin  and  going  on  a  break,  and  then  repenting; 
sitting  in  the  house  at  night  with  the  lamp  for 
company ;  or  walking  on  the  beach  and  wondering 
what  kind  of  a  fool  to  call  myself  for  being  where 
I  was.  There  were  no  other  whites  upon  my 
island,  and  when  I  sailed  to  the  next,  rough  cus- 
tomers made  the  most  of  the  society.  Now  to 
see  these  two  when  they  came  aboard  was  a  pleas- 
ure. One  was  a  negro,  to  be  sure ;  but  they  were 
both  rigged  out  smart  in  striped  pajamas  and  straw 
hats,  and  Case  would  have  passed  muster  in  a 
city.  He  was  yellow  and  smallish,  had  a  hawk's 
nose  to  his  face,  pale  eyes,  and  his  beard  trimmed 
with  scissors.  No  man  knew  his  country,  be- 
yond he  was  of  English  speech;  and  it  was  clear 
he  came  of  a  good  family  and  was  splendidly 
educated.  He  was  accomplished  too;  played  the 
accordion  first  rate;  and  give  him  a  piece  of  a 
string  or  a  cork  or  a  pack  of  cards,  and  he  could 
show  you  tricks  equal  to  any  professional.  He 
could   speak,   when  he  chose,   fit   for  a  drawing- 


8  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

room;  and  when  he  chose  he  could  blaspheme 
worse  than  a  Yankee  boatswain,  and  talk  smart 
to  sicken  a  Kanaka.  The  way  he  thought  would 
pay  best  at  the  moment,  that  was  Case's  way, 
and  it  always  seemed  to  come  natural,  and  like 
as  if  he  was  born  to  it.  He  had  the  courage  of  a 
lion  and  the  cunning  of  a  rat ;  and  if  he  's  not  in 
hell  to-day,  there  's  no  such  place.  I  know  but 
one  good  point  to  the  man  —  that  he  was  fond 
of  his  wife,  and  kind  to  her.  She  was  a  Samoa 
woman,  and  dyed  her  hair  red  —  Samoa  style ; 
and  when  he  came  to  die  (as  I  have  to  tell  of) 
they  found  one  strange  thing  —  that  he  had  made 
a  will,  like  a  Christian,  and  the  widow  got  the 
lot;  all  his,  they  said,  and  all  Black  Jack's,  and 
the  most  of  Billy  Randall's  in  the  bargain,  for  it 
was  Case  that  kept  the  books.  So  she  went  off 
home  in  the  schooner  Manu'a,  and  does  the  lady 
to  this  day  in  her  own  place. 

But  of  all  this  on  that  first  morning  I  knew^ 
no  more  than  a  fly.  Case  used  me  like  a  gentle- 
man and  like  a  friend,  made  me  welcome  to  Falesa, 
and  put  his  services  at  my  disposal,  which  was  the 


THE    BEACH    OF    FALESA        9 

more  helpful  from  my  ignorance  of  the  natives. 
All  the  better  part  of  the  day  we  sat  drinking 
better  acquaintance  in  the  cabin,  and  I  never  heard 
a  man  talk  more  to  the  point.  There  v^as  no 
smarter  trader,  and  none  dodgier,  in  the  islands. 
I  thought  Falesa  seemed  to  be  the  right  kind  of  a 
place ;  and  the  more  I  drank  the  lighter  my  heart. 
Our  last  trader  had  fled  the  place  at  half  an  hour's 
notice,  taking  a  chance  passage  in  a  labour  ship 
from  up  west.  The  captain,  when  he  came,  had 
found  the  station  closed,  the  keys  left  with  the 
native  pastor,  and  a  letter  from  the  runaway,  con- 
fessing he  was  fairly  frightened  of  his  life.  Since 
then  the  firm  had  not  been  represented,  and  of 
course  there  was  no  cargo.  The  wind,  besides, 
was  fair,  the  captain  hoped  he  could  make  his  next 
island  by  dawn,  with  a  good  tide,  and  the  busi- 
ness of  landing  my  trade  was  gone  about  lively. 
There  was  no  call  for  me  to  fool  with  it.  Case 
said ;  nobody  would  touch  my  things,  every  one 
was  honest  in  Falesa,  only  about  chickens  or  an 
odd  knife  or  an  odd  stick  of  tobacco;  and  the 
best  I  could  do  was  to  sit  quiet  till  the  vessel  left, 


lo  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

then  come  straight  to  his  house,  see  old  Captain 
Randall,  the  father  of  the  beach,  take  pot-luck, 
and  go  home  to  sleep  when  it  got  dark.  So  it 
was  high  noon,  and  the  schooner  was  under  way 
before  I  set  my  foot  on  shore  at  Falesa. 

I  had  a  glass  or  two  on  board;  I  was  just  off 
a  long  cruise,  and  the  ground  heaved  under  me 
like  a  ship's  deck.  The  world  was  like  all  new 
painted;  my  foot  went  along  to  music;  Falesa 
might  have  been  Fiddler's  Green,  if  there  is  such 
a  place,  and  more  's  the  pity  if  there  is  n't !  It 
was  good  to  foot  the  grass,  to  look  aloft  at  the 
green  mountains,  to  see  the  men  with  their  green 
wreaths  and  the  women  in  their  bright  dresses, 
red  and  blue.  On  we  went,  in  the  strong  sun 
and  the  cool  shadow,  liking  both;  and  all  the 
children  in  the  town  came  trotting  after  with  their 
shaven  heads  and  their  brown  bodies,  and  raising 
a  thin  kind  of  a  cheer  in  our  wake,  like  crowing 
poultry. 

"  By  the  bye,"  says  Case,  "  we  must  get  you 
a  wife.'* 

"That's  so,"  said  I;  "I  had  forgotten." 


THE    BEACH    OF    FALESA       ii 

There  was  a  crowd  of  girls  about  us,  and  I 
pulled  myself  up  and  looked  among  them  like  a 
bashaw.  They  were  all  dressed  out  for  the  sake 
of  the  ship  being  in ;  and  the  women  of  Falesa  are 
a  handsome  lot  to  see.  If  they  have  a  fault,  they 
are  a  trifle  broad  in  the  beam;  and  I  was  just 
thinking  so  when  Case  touched  me. 

"  That 's  pretty,"  says  he. 

I  saw  one  coming  on  the  other  side  alone.  She 
had  been  fishing;  all  she  wore  was  a  chemise,  and 
it  was  wetted  through.  She  was  young  and  very 
slender  for  an  island  maid,  with  a  long  face,  a 
high  forehead,  and  a  shy,  strange,  blindish  look, 
between  a  cat's  and  a  baby's. 

"  Who  's  she?  "  said  I.     "  She  '11  do." 

"  That 's  Uma,"  said  Case,  and  he  called  her  up 
and  spoke  to  her  in  the  native.  I  did  n't  know 
what  he  said;  but  when  he  was  in  the  midst  she 
looked  up  at  me  quick  and  timid,  like  a  child 
dodging  a  blow,  then  down  again,  and  presently 
smiled.  She  had  a  wide  mouth,  the  lips  and  the 
chin  cut  like  any  statue's;  and  the  smile  came 
out    for  a    moment    and    was    gone.      Then    she 


12  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

stood  with  her  head  bent,  and  heard  Case  to  an 
end,  spoke  back  in  the  pretty  Polynesian  voice, 
looking  him  full  in  the  face,  heard  him  again 
in  answer,  and  then  with  an  obeisance  started  off. 
I  had  just  a  share  of  the  bow,  but  never  another 
shot  of  her  eye,  and  there  was  no  more  word  of 
smiling. 

"  I  guess  it 's  all  right,"  said  Case.  "  I  guess 
you  can  have  her.  I  '11  make  it  square  with  the 
old  lady.  You  can  have  your  pick  of  the  lot  for 
a  plug  of  tobacco,"  he  added,  sneering. 

I  suppose  it  was  the  smile  that  stuck  in  my 
memory,  for  I  spoke  back  sharp.  "  She  does  n't 
look  that  sort,"  I  cried. 

"  I  don't  know  that  she  is,"  said  Case.  "  I  be- 
lieve she  's  as  right  as  the  mail.  Keeps  to  her- 
self, don't  go  round  with  the  gang,  and  that.  Oh, 
no,  don't  you  misunderstand  me  —  Uma  's  on  the 
square."  He  spoke  eager,  I  thought,  and  that 
surprised  and  pleased  me.  "  Indeed,"  he  went  on, 
"  I  should  n't  make  so  sure  of  getting  her,  only 
she  cottoned  to  the  cut  of  your  jib.  All  you  have 
to  do  is  to  keep  dark  and  let  me  work  the  mother 


THE    BEACH    OF    FALESA      13 

my  own  way ;  and  I  '11  bring  the  girl  round  to 
the  captain's  for  the  marriage." 

I  did  n't  care  for  the  word  marriage,  and  I 
said  so. 

"  Oh,  there  's  nothing  to  hurt  in  the  marriage," 
says  he.     "  Black  Jack  's  the  chaplain." 

By  this  time  we  had  come  in  view  of  the  house 
of  these  three  white  men;  for  a  negro  is  counted 
a  white  man,  and  so  is  a  Chinese!  A  strange 
idea,  but  common  in  the  islands.  It  was  a  board 
house  with  a  strip  of  rickety  veranda.  The  store 
was  to  the  front,  with  a  counter,  scales,  and  the 
finest  possible  display  of  trade:  a  case  or  two  of 
tinned  meats;  a  barrel  of  hard  bread,  a  few  bolts 
of  cotton  stuff,  not  to  be  compared  with  mine; 
the  only  thing  well  represented  being  the  contra- 
band firearms  and  liquor.  "  If  these  are  my  only 
rivals,"  thinks  I,  "  I  should  do  well  in  Falesa." 
Indeed,  there  was  only  the  one  way  they  could 
touch  me,  and  that  was  with  the  guns  and  drink. 

In  the  back  room  was  old  Captain  Randall, 
squatting  on  the  floor  native  fashion,  fat  and  pale, 
naked  to  the  waist,  grey  as  a  badger,  and  his  eyes 


14  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

set  with  drink.  His  body  was  covered  with  grey 
hair  and  crawled  over  by  flies;  one  was  in  the 
corner  of  his  eye  —  he  never  heeded;  and  the 
mosquitoes  hummed  about  the  man  like  bees.  Any 
clean-minded  man  would  have  had  the  creature 
out  at  once  and  buried  him ;  ^nd  to  see  him,  and 
think  he  was  seventy,  and  remember  he  had  once 
commanded  a  ship,  and  come  ashore  in  his  smart 
togs,  and  talked  big  in  bars  and  consulates,  and 
sat  in  club  verandas,  turned  me  sick  and  sober. 

He  tried  to  get  up  when  I  came  in,  but  that 
was  hopeless;  so  he  reached  me  a  hand  instead, 
and  stumbled  out  some  salutation. 

"  Papa 's  pretty  full  this  morning,"  observed 
Case.  "  We  Ve  had  an  epidemic  here ;  and  Cap- 
tain Randall  takes  gin  for  a  prophylactic  —  don't 
you,  papa  ?  " 

"  Never  took  such  a  thing  in  my  life !  "  cried 
the  captain,  indignantly.  "  Take  gin  for  my 
health's  sake,  Mr.  Wha's-ever-your-name  —  's  a 
precautionary  measure." 

"That's  all  right.  Papa,"  said  Case.  "But 
you  '11  have  to  brace  up.     There  's  going  to  be  a 


THE    BEACH    OF    FALESA      15 

marriage — Air.  Wiltshire  here  is  going  to  get 
spHced." 

The  old  man  asked  to  whom. 

"  To  Uma,"  said  Case. 

"  Uma !  "  cried  the  captain.  ''  Wha'  's  he  want 
Uma  for  ?  's  he  come  here  for  his  health,  anyway  ? 
Wha'  'n  hell  's  he  want  Uma  for?  " 

"  Dry  up,  Papa,"  said  Case.  "  'T  ain't  you  that 's 
to  marry  her.  I  guess  you  're  not  her  godfather 
and  godmother.  I  guess  Mr.  Wiltshire  's  going 
to  please  himself." 

With  that  he  made  an  excuse  to  me  that  he 
must  move  about  the  marriage,  and  left  me  alone 
with  the  poor  wretch  that  was  his  partner  and  (to 
speak  truth)  his  gull.  Trade  and  station  be- 
longed both  to  Randall ;  Case  and  the  negro  were 
parasites ;  they  crawled  and  fed  upon  him  like  the 
flies,  he  none  the  wiser.  Indeed,  I  have  no  harm 
to  say  of  Billy  Randall  beyond  the  fact  that  my 
gorge  rose  at  him,  and  the  time  I  now  passed  in 
his  company  was  like  a  nightmare. 

The  room  was  stifling  hot  and  full  of  flies;  for 
the  house  was  dirty  and  low  and  small,  and  stood 


i6  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

in  a  bad  place,  behind  the  village,  in  the  borders 
of  the  bush,  and  sheltered  from  the  trade.  The 
three  men's  beds  were  on  the  floor,  and  a  litter  of 
pans  and  dishes.  There  was  no  standing  furniture ; 
Randall,  when  he  was  violent,  tearing  it  to  laths. 
There  I  sat  and  had  a  meal  which  was  served 
us  by  Case's  wife;  and  there  I  was  entertained 
all  day  by  that  remains  of  man,  his  tongue  stum- 
bling among  low  old  jokes  and  long  old  stories, 
and  his  own  wheezy  laughter  always  ready,  so 
that  he  had  no  sense  of  my  depression.  He  was 
nipping  gin  all  the  while.  Sometimes  he  fell 
asleep,  and  awoke  again,  whimpering  and  shiver- 
ing, and  every  now  and  again  he  would  ask  me 
why  I  wanted  to  marry  Uma.  ''  My  friend,"  I 
was  telling  myself  all  day,  "  you  must  not  come 
to  be  an  old  gentleman  like  this." 

It  might  be  four  in  the  afternoon,  perhaps,  when 
the  back  door  was  thrust  slowly  open,  and  a 
strange  old  native  woman  crawled  into  the  house 
almost  on  her  belly.  She  was  swathed  in  black 
stuff  to  her  heels ;  her  hair  was  grey  in  swatches ; 
her  face  was  tattooed,  which  was  not  the  practice 


THE   BEACH    OF    FALESA       17 

in  that  island ;  her  eyes  big  and  bright  and  crazy. 
These  she  fixed  upon  me  with  a  rapt  expression 
that  I  saw  to  be  part  acting.  She  said  no  plain 
word,  but  smacked  and  mumbled  with  her  lips, 
and  hummed  aloud,  like  a  child  over  its  Christmas 
pudding.  She  came  straight  across  the  house, 
heading  for  me,  and,  as  soon  as  she  was  alongside, 
caught  up  my  hand  and  purred  and  crooned  over 
it  like  a  great  cat.  From  this  she  slipped  into  a 
kind  of  song. 

"  Who  the  devil 's  this?  "  cried  I,  for  the  thing 
startled  me. 

"  It 's  Faavao,"  says  Randall ;  and  I  saw  he  had 
hitched  along  the  floor  into  the  farthest  corner. 
'*  You  ain't  afraid  of  her?  "  I  cried. 
''  Me  'fraid !  "  cried  the  captain.  "  My  dear 
friend,  I  defy  her!  I  don't  let  her  put  her  foot 
in  here,  only  I  suppose  's  different  to-day  for  the 
marriage.     'S  Uma's  mother." 

**  Well,  suppose  it  is ;  what 's  she  carrying  on 
about?"  I  asked,  more  irritated,  perhaps  more 
frightened,  than  T  cared  to  show ;  and  the  captain 
told  me  she  was  making  up  a  quantity  of  poetry 


i8  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

in  my  praise  because  I  was  to  marry  Uma.  "  All 
right,  old  lady,"  says  I,  with  rather  a  failure  of  a 
laugh,  "  anything  to  oblige.  But  when  you  're  done 
with  my  hand,  you  might  let  me  know." 

She  did  as  though  she  understood;  the  song 
rose  into  a  cry,  and  stopped;  the  woman  crouched 
out  of  the  house  the  same  way  that  she  came  in, 
and  must  have  plunged  straight  into  the  bush,  for 
when  I  followed  her  to  the  door  she  had  already 
vanished. 

"  These  are  rum  manners,"  said  I. 

"  'S  a  rum  crowd,"  said  the  captain,  and,  to  my 
surprise,  he  made  the  sign  of  the  cross  on  his  bare 
bosom. 

*'  Hillo !  "  says  I,  "  are  you  a  Papist?  " 

He  repudiated  the  idea  with  contempt.  "  Hard- 
shell Baptis',"  said  he.  "  But,  my  dear  friend,  the 
Papists  got  some  good  ideas  too ;  and  th'  's  one 
of  'em.  You  take  my  advice,  and  whenever  you 
come  across  Uma  or  Faavao  or  Vigours,  or  any  of 
that  crowd,  you  take  a  leaf  out  o'  the  priests,  and 
do  what  I  do.  Savvy  ?  "  says  he,  repeated  the 
sign,  and  winked  his  dim  eye  at  me.     "  No,  sir!  '* 


THE    BEACH    OF    FALESA      19 

lie  broke  out  again,  "  no  Papists  here !  "  and  for 
a  long  time  entertained  me  with  his  religious 
opinions. 

I  must  have  been  taken  with  Uma  from  the 
first,  or  I  should  certainly  have  fled  from  that 
house,  and  got  into  the  clean  air,  and  the  clean 
sea,  or  some  convenient  river  —  though,  it 's  true, 
I  was  committed  to  Case;  and,  besides,  I  could 
never  have  held  my  head  up  in  that  island  if  I 
had  run  from  a  girl  upon  my  wedding-night. 
'  The  sun  was  down,  the  sky  all  on  fire,  and  the 
lamp  had  been  some  time  lighted,  when  Case 
came  back  with  Uma  and  the  negro.  She  was 
dressed  and  scented;  her  kilt  was  of  fine  tapa, 
looking  richer  in  the  folds  than  any  silk;  her 
bust,  which  was  of  the  colour  of  dark  honey,  she 
wore  bare,  only  for  some  half-a-dozen  necklaces 
of  seeds  and  flowers;  and  behind  her  ears  and 
in  her  hair  she  had  the  scarlet  flowers  of  the 
hibiscus.  She  showed  the  best  bearing  for  a  bride 
conceivable,  serious  and  still ;  and  I  thought  shame 
to  stand  up  with  her  in  that  mean  house  and 
before  that  grinning  negro.     I  thought  shame,  I 


20  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

say;  for  the  mountebank  was  dressed  with  a  big 
paper  collar,  the  book  he  made  believe  to  read 
from  was  an  odd  volume  of  a  novel,  and  the 
words  of  his  service  not  fit  to  be  set  down.  My 
conscience  smote  me  when  we  joined  hands;  and 
when  she  got  her  certificate  I  was  tempted  to 
throw  up  the  bargain  and  confess.  Here  is  the 
document.  It  was  Case  that  wrote  it,  signatures 
and  all,  in  a  leaf  out  of  the  ledger: 

This  is  to  certify  that  Uma,  daughter  of  Faavao  of  Falesd, 

Island  of ,  is  illegally  married  to  Mr.  John  Wiltshire,  and 

Mr.  John  Wiltshire  is  at  liberty  to  send  her  packing  when  he 
pleases. 

John  Blackamoar, 
Extracted  from  the  Register  Chaplain  to  the  Hulks, 

by  William  T.  Randall, 
Master  Mariner. 

A  nice  paper  to  put  in  a  girl's  hand  and  see 
her  hide  away  like  gold.  A  man  might  easily  feel 
cheap  for  less.  But  it  was  the  practice  in  these 
parts,  and  (as  I  told  myself)  not  the  least  the 
fault  of  us  white  men,  but  of  the  missionaries. 
If  they  had  let  the  natives  be,  I  had  never  needed 
this  deception,  but  taken  all  the  wives  I  wished, 


THE    BEACH    OF    FALESA      21 

and  left  them  when  I  pleased,  with  a  clear 
conscience. 

The  more  ashamed  I  was,  the  more  hurry  I 
was  in  to  be  gone;  and  our  desires  thus  jumping 
together,  I  made  the  less  remark  of  a  change  in 
the  traders.  Case  had  been  all  eagerness  to  keep 
me;  now,  as  though  he  had  attained  a  purpose, 
he  seemed  all  eagerness  to  have  me  go.  Uma,  he 
said,  could  show  me  to  my  house,  and  the  three 
bade  us  farewell  indoors. 

The  night  was  nearly  come;  the  village  smelt 
of  trees  and  flowers  and  the  sea  and  bread-fruit- 
cooking;  there  came  a  fine  roll  of  sea  from  the 
reef,  and  from  a  distance,  among  the  woods  and 
houses,  many  pretty  sounds  of  men  and  children. 
It  did  me  good  to  breathe  free  air;  it  did  me 
good  to  be  done  with  the  captain,  and  see,  in- 
stead, the  creature  at  my  side.  I  felt  for  all  the 
world  as  though  she  were  some  girl  at  home  in 
the  Old  Country,  and  forgetting  myself  for  the 
minute,  took  her  hand  to  walk  with.  Her  fingers 
nestled  into  mine,  I  heard  her  breathe  deep  and 
quick,   and   all   at  once   she   caught   my   hand   to 


22  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

her  face  and  pressed  it  there.  "  You  good !  "  she 
cried,  and  ran  ahead  of  me,  and  stopped  and 
looked  back  and  smiled,  and  ran  ahead  of  me 
again,  thus  guiding  me  through  the  edge  of  the 
bush,  and  by  a  quiet  way  to  my  own  house. 

The  truth  is.  Case  had  done  the  courting  for 
me  in  style  —  told  her  I  was  mad  to  have  her, 
and  cared  nothing  for  the  consequences;  and  the 
poor  soul,  knowing  that  which  I  was  still  igno- 
rant of,  believed  it,  every  word,  and  had  her  head 
nigh  turned  with  vanity  and  gratitude.  Now,  of 
all  this  I  had  no  guess;  I  was  one  of  those  most 
opposed  to  any  nonsense  about  native  women, 
having  seen  so  many  whites  eaten  up  by  their 
waives'  relatives,  and  made  fools  of  into  the  bar- 
gain; and  I  told  myself  I  must  make  a  stand 
at  once,  and  bring  her  to  her  bearings.  But  she 
looked  so  quaint  and  pretty  as  she  ran  away  and 
then  awaited  me,  and  the  thing  was  done  so  like 
a  child  or  a  kind  dog,  that  the  best  I  could  do 
was  just  to  follow  her  whenever  she  went  on,  to 
listen  for  the  fall  of  her  bare  feet,  and  to  watch 
in  the  dusk  for  the  shining  of  her  body.     And 


THE    BEACH    OF    FALESA      23 

there  was  another  thought  came  in  my  head.  She 
played  kitten  with  me  now  when  we  were  alone; 
but  in  the  house  she  had  carried  it  the  way  a 
countess  might,  so  proud  and  humble.  And  what 
with  her  dress  —  for  all  there  was  so  little  of  it, 
and  that  native  enough  —  what  with  her  fine  tapa 
and  fine  scents,  and  her  red  flowers  and  seeds,  that 
were  quite  as  bright  as  jewels,  only  larger  —  it 
came  over  me  she  was  a  kind  of  countess  really, 
dressed  to  hear  great  singers  at  a  concert,  and  no 
even  mate  for  a  poor  trader  like  myself. 

She  was  the  first  in  the  house ;  and  while  I  was 
still  without  I  saw  a  match  flash  and  the  lamp- 
light kindle  in  the  windows.  The  station  was  a 
wonderful  fine  place,  coral  built,  with  quite  a  wide 
veranda,  and  the  main  room  high  and  wide.  My 
chests  and  cases  had  been  piled  in,  and  made 
rather  of  a  mess ;  and  there,  in  the  thick  of  the 
confusion,  stood  Uma  by  the  table,  awaiting  me. 
Her  shadow  went  all  the  way  up  behind  her  into 
the  hollow  of  the  iron  roof;  she  stood  against  it 
bright,  the  lamplight  shining  on  her  skin.  1 
stopped    in    the    door,    and    she    looked    at    me. 


24  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

not  speaking,  with  eyes  that  were  eager  and 
yet  daunted;  then  she  touched  herself  on  the 
bosom. 

"  Me  —  your  wifie,"  she  said.  It  had  never 
taken  me  Hke  that  before;  but  the  want  of  her 
took  and  shook  all  through  me,  like  the  wind  in 
the  luff  of  a  sail. 

I  could  not  speak  if  I  had  wanted;  and  if  I 
could,  I  would  not.  I  was  ashamed  to  be  so 
much  moved  about  a  native,  ashamed  of  the  mar- 
riage too,  and  the  certificate  she  had  treasured  in 
her  kilt;  and  I  turned  aside  and  made  believe  to 
rummage  among  my  cases.  The  first  thing  I 
lighted  on  was  a  case  of  gin,  the  only  one  that  I 
had  brought;  and  partly  for  the  girl's  sake,  and 
partly  for  horror  of  the  recollections  of  old  Ran- 
dall, took  a  sudden  resolve.  I  pried  the  lid  off. 
One  by  one  I  drew  the  bottles  with  a  pocket  cork- 
screw, and  sent  Uma  out  to  pour  the  stuff  from 
the  veranda. 

She  came  back  after  the  last,  and  looked  at  me 
puzzled  like. 

"  No  good,"  said  I,  for  I  was  now  a  little  better 


THE    BEACH    OF    FALESA      25 

master  of  my  tongue.  "  Man  he  drink,  he  no 
good." 

She  agreed  with  this,  but  kept  considering. 
*'  Why  you  bring  him  ? "  she  asked,  presently. 
''  Suppose  you  no  want  drink,  you  no  bring  him, 
I  think." 

"  That 's  all  right,"  said  I.  "  One  time  I  want 
drink  too  much;  now  no  want.  You  see,  I  no 
savvy,  I  get  one  little  wifie.  Suppose  I  drink  gin, 
my  little  wifie  be  'fraid." 

To  speak  to  her  kindly  was  about  more  than  I 
was  fit  for;  I  had  made  my  vow  I  would  never 
let  on  to  weakness  with  a  native,  and  I  had  noth- 
ing for  it  but  to  stop. 

She  stood  looking  gravely  down  at  me  where 
I  sat  by  the  open  case.  "  I  think  you  good  man," 
she  said.  And  suddenly  she  had  fallen  before  me 
on  the  floor.  "  I  belong  you  all-e-same  pig!  "  she 
cried. 


CHAPTER   II 

THE   BAN 

I  CAME  on  the  veranda  just  before  the  sun 
rose  on  the  morrow.  My  house  was  the 
last  on  the  east;  there  was  a  cape  of 
woods  and  cHffs  behind  that  hid  the  sunrise.  To 
the  west,  a  swift,  cold  river  ran  down,  and  be- 
yond was  the  green  of  the  village,  dotted  with 
cocoa-palms  and  bread-fruits  and  houses.  The 
shutters  were  some  of  them  down  and  some  open ; 
I  saw  the  mosquito  bars  still  stretched,  with 
shadows  of  people  new-awakened  sitting  up  in- 
side; and  all  over  the  green  others  were  stalking 
silent,  wrapped  in  their  many-coloured  sleeping- 
clothes,  like  Bedouins  in  Bible  pictures.  It  was 
mortal  still  and  solemn  and  chilly,  and  the  light 
of  the  dawn  on  the  lagoon  was  like  the  shining 
of  a  fire. 


THE    BEACH    OF    FALESA      27 

But  the  thing  that  troubled  me  was  nearer 
hand.  Some  dozen  young  men  and  children 
made  a  piece  of  a  half-circle,  flanking  my  house: 
the  river  divided  them,  some  were  on  the  near 
side,  some  on  the  far,  and  one  on  a  boulder  in 
the  midst;  and  they  all  sat  silent,  wrapped  in 
their  sheets,  and  stared  at  me  and  my  house  as 
straight  as  pointer  dogs.  I  thought  it  strange  as 
I  went  out.  When  I  had  bathed  and  come  back 
again,  and  found  them  all  there,  and  two  or  three 
more  along  with  them,  I  thought  it  stranger  still. 
What  could  they  see  to  gaze  at  in  my  house  I 
wondered,  and  went  in. 

But  the  thought  of  these  starers  stuck  in  my 
mind,  and  presently  I  came  out  again.  The  sun 
was  now  up,  but  it  was  still  behind  the  cape  of 
woods.  Say  a  quarter  of  an  hour  had  come  and 
gone.  The  crowd  was  greatly  increased,  the  far 
bank  of  the  river  was  lined  for  quite  a  way  — 
perhaps  thirty  grown  folk,  and  of  children  twice 
as  many,  some  standing,  some  squatted  on  the 
ground,  and  all  staring  at  my  house.  I  have 
seen   a  house   in   a   South-Sea   village  thus   sur- 


28  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

rounded,  but  then  a  trader  was  thrashing  his  wife 
inside,  and  she  singing  out.  Here  was  nothing 
—  the  stove  was  ahght,  the  smoke  going  up  in 
a  Christian  manner;  all  was  shipshape  and  Bris- 
tol fashion.  To  be  sure,  there  was  a  stranger 
come,  but  they  had  a  chance  to  see  that  stranger 
yesterday,  and  took  it  quiet  enough.  What  ailed 
them  now?  I  leaned  my  arms  on  the  rail  and 
stared  back.  Devil  a  wink  they  had  in  them! 
Now  and  then  I  could  see  the  children  chatter, 
but  they  spoke  so  low  not  even  the  hum  of  their 
speaking  came  my  length.  The  rest  were  like 
graven  images :  they  stared  at  me,  dumb  and  sor- 
rowful, with  their  bright  eyes;  and  it  came  upon 
me  things  would  look  not  much  different  if  I 
were  on  the  platform  of  the  gallows,  and  these 
good  folk  had  come  to  see  me  hanged. 

I  felt  I  was  getting  daunted,  and  began  to  be 
afraid  I  looked  it,  which  would  never  do.  Up  I 
stood,  made  believe  to  stretch  myself,  came  down 
the  veranda  stair,  and  strolled  toward  the  river. 
There  went  a  short  buzz  from  one  to  the  other, 
like  wliat  vou  hear  in  theatres  when  the  curtain 


THE    BEACH    OF    FALESA      29 

goes  up :  and  some  of  the  nearest  gave  back  the 
matter  of  a  pace.  I  saw  a  girl  lay  one  hand  on 
a  young  man  and  make  a  gesture  upward  with 
the  other;  at  the  same  time  she  said  something 
in  the  native  with  a  gasping  voice.  Three  little 
beys  sat  beside  my  path,  where  I  must  pass  within 
three  feet  of  them.  Wrapped  in  their  sheets,  with 
their  shaved  heads  and  bits  of  topknots,  and  queer 
faces,  they  looked  like  figures  on  a  chimney-piece. 
Awhile  they  sat  their  ground,  solemn  as  judges. 
I  came  up  hand  over  fist,  doing  my  five  knots, 
like  a  man  that  meant  business;  and  I  thought  I 
saw  a  sort  of  a  w^ink  and  gulp  in  the  three  faces. 
Then  one  jumped  up  (he  was  the  farthest  off) 
and  ran  for  his  mammy.  The  other  two,  trying 
to  follow  suit,  got  foul,  came  to  the  ground  to- 
gether bawling,  wriggled  right  out  of  their  sheets, 
and  in  a  moment  there  were  all  three  of  them 
scampering  for  their  lives,  and  singing  out  like 
pigs.  The  natives,  who  would  never  let  a  joke 
slip,  even  at  a  burial,  laughed  and  let  up,  as  short 
as  a  dog's  bark. 

They   say   it   scares   a   man   to  be   alone.      No 


so  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

such  thing.  What  scares  him  in  the  dark  or  the 
high  bush  is  that  he  can't  make  sure,  and  there 
might  be  an  army  at  his  elbow.  What  scares  him 
worst  is  to  be  right  in  the  midst  of  a  crowd,  and 
have  no  guess  of  what  they  're  driving  at.  When 
that  laugh  stopped,  I  stopped  too.  The  boys  had 
not  yet  made  their  offing;  they  were  still  on  the 
full  stretch  going  the  one  way,  when  I  had  al- 
ready gone  about  ship  and  was  sheering  off  the 
other.  Like  a  fool  I  had  come  out,  doing  my 
five  knots;  like  a  fool  I  went  back  again.  It 
must  have  been  the  funniest  thing  to  see,  and 
what  knocked  me  silly,  this  time  no  one  laughed; 
only  one  old  woman  gave  a  kind  of  pious  moan, 
the  way  you  have  heard  Dissenters  in  their  chapels 
at  the  sermon. 

"  I  never  saw  such  fools  of  Kanakas  as  your 
people  here,"  I  said  once  to  Uma,  glancing  out 
of  the  window  at  the  starers. 

"  Savvy  nothing,"  says  Uma,  with  a  kind  of 
disgusted  air  that  she  was  good  at. 

And  that  was  all  the  talk  we  had  upon  the 
matter,   for  I  was  put  out,   and  Uma  took  the 


THE    BEACH    OF    FALESA      ji 

thing  so  much  as  a  matter  of  course  that  I  was 
fairly  ashamed. 

All  day,  off  and  on,  now  fewer  and  now  more, 
the  fools  sat  about  the  w^st  end  of  my  house  and 
across  the  river,  waiting  for  the  show,  whatever 
that  was  —  fire  to  come  down  from  heaven,  I 
suppose,  and  consume  me,  bones  and  baggage. 
But  by  evening,  like  real  islanders,  they  had 
wearied  of  the  business,  and  got  away,  and  had 
a  dance  instead  in  the  big  house  of  the  village, 
where  I  heard  them  singing  and  clapping  hands 
till,  maybe,  ten  at  night,  and  the  next  day  it 
seemed  they  had  forgotten  I  existed.  If  fire  had 
come  down  from  heaven  or  the  earth  opened  and 
swallowed  me,  there  would  have  been  nobody  to 
see  the  sport  or  take  the  lesson,  or  whatever  you 
like  to  call  it.  But  I  was  to  find  they  had  n't  for- 
got either,  and  kept  an  eye  lifting  for  phenomena 
over  my  way. 

I  was  hard  at  it  both  these  days  getting  my 
trade  in  order  and  taking  stock  of  what  Vigours 
had  left.  This  was  a  job  that  made  me  pretty 
sick,  and  kept  me  from  thinking  on  much  else. 


32  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

Ben  had  taken  stock  the  trip  before  —  I  knew  I 
could  trust  Ben  —  but  it  was  plain  somebody  had 
been  making  free  in  the  meantime.  I  found  I 
was  out  by  what  might  easily  cover  six  months' 
salary  and  profit,  and  I  could  have  kicked  myself 
all  round  the  village  to  have  been  such  a  blamed 
ass,  sitting  boozing  with  that  Case  instead  of 
attending  to  my  own  affairs  and  taking  stock. 

However,  there  's  no  use  crying  over  spilt  milk. 
It  was  done  now,  and  could  n't  be  undone.  All 
I  could  do  was  to  get  what  was  left  of  it,  and 
my  new  stuff  (my  own  choice)  in  order,  to  go 
round  and  get  after  the  rats  and  cockroaches,  and 
to  fix  up  that  store  regular  Sydney  style.  A  fine 
show  I  made  of  it;  and  the  third  morning,  when 
I  had  lit  my  pipe  and  stood  in  the  doorway  and 
looked  in,  and  turned  and  looked  far  up  the 
mountain  and  saw  the  cocoa-nuts  waving  and 
posted  up  the  tons  of  copra,  and  over  the  village 
green  and  saw  the  island  dandies  and  reckoned 
up  the  yards  of  print  they  wanted  for  their  kilts 
and  dresses,  I  felt  as  if  I  was  in  the  right  place 
to  make  a  fortune,  and  go  home  again  and  start 


THE    BEACH    OF    FALESA       33 

a  public-house.  There  was  I,  sitting  in  that  ve- 
randa, in  as  handsome  a  piece  of  scenery  as  you 
could  find,  a  splendid  sun,  and  a  fine,  fresh, 
healthy  trade  that  stirred  up  a  man's  blood  like 
sea-bathing;  and  the  whole  thing  was  clean  gone 
from  me,  and  I  was  dreaming  England,  which  is, 
after  all,  a  nasty,  cold,  muddy  hole,  with  not 
enough  light  to  see  to  read  by;  and  dreaming 
the  looks  of  my  public,  by  a  cant  of  a  broad  high- 
road like  an  avenue  and  with  the  sign  on  a  green 
tree. 

So  much  for  the  morning,  but  the  day  passed 
and  the  devil  any  one  looked  near  me,  and  from 
all  I  knew  of  natives  in  other  islands  I  thought 
this  strange.  People  laughed  a  little  at  our  firm 
and  their  fine  stations,  and  at  this  station  of 
Falesa  in  particular;  all  the  copra  in  the  district 
wouldn't  pay  for  it  (I  heard  them  say)  in  fifty 
years,  which  I  supposed  was  an  exaggeration.  But 
when  the  day  went,  and  no  business  came  at  all, 
I  began  to  get  down-hearted;  and,  about  three 
in  the  afternoon,  I  went  out  for  a  stroll  to  cheer 
me  up.     On  the  g-reen  I  saw  a  white  man  coming 


34  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

with  a  cassock  on,  by  which  and  by  the  face  of 
him  I  knew  he  was  a  priest.  He  was  a  good- 
natured  old  soul  to  look  at,  gone  a  little  grizzled, 
and  so  dirty  you  could  have  written  with  him  on 
a  piece  of  paper. 

"  Good-day,  sir,"  said  I. 

He  answered  me  eagerly  in  native. 

"  Don't  you  speak  any  English  ?  "  said  I. 

"  French,"  says  he. 

"Well,"  said  I,  "I'm  sorry,  but  I  can't  do 
anything  there." 

He  tried  me  awhile  in  the  French,  and  then 
again  in  native,  which  he  seemed  to  think  was  the 
best  chance.  I  made  out  he  was  after  more  than 
passing  the  time  of  day  with  me,  but  had  something 
to  communicate,  and  I  listened  the  harder.  I  heard 
the  names  of  Adams  and  Case  and  of  Randall  — 
Randall  the  oftenest  —  and  the  word  "  poison," 
or  something  like  it,  and  a  native  word  that  he 
said  very  often.  I  went  home,  repeating  it  to 
myself. 

"  What  does  fussy-ocky  mean  ? "  I  asked  of 
Uma,  for  that  was  as  near  as  I  could  come  to  it. 


THE    BEACH    OF    FALESA      35 

"  Make  dead,"  said  she. 

**  The  devil  it  does  !  "  says  I.  "  Did  ever  you 
hear  that  Case  had  poisoned  Johnny  Adams?" 

''  Every  man  he  savvy  that,"  says  Uma,  scorn ful- 
Hke.  "  Give  him  white  sand  —  bad  sand.  He  got 
the  bottle  still.  Suppose  he  give  you  gin,  you  no 
take  him." 

Now  I  had  heard  much  the  same  sort  of  story 
in  other  islands,  and  the  same  white  powder  always 
to  the  front,  which  made  me  think  the  less  of  it. 
For  all  that,  I  went  over  to  Randall's  place  to  see 
what  I  could  pick  up,  and  found  Case  on  the  door- 
step, cleaning  a  gun. 

"  Good  shooting  here?  "  says  I. 

"  A  I,"  says  he.  "  The  bush  is  full  of  all  kinds 
of  birds.  I  wish  copra  was  as  plenty,"  says  he  — 
I  thought,  slyly  —  "  but  there  don't  seem  anything 
doing." 

I  could  see  Black  Jack  in  the  store,  serving  a 
customer. 

"  That  looks  like  business,  though,"  said  I. 

"  That 's  the  first  sale  we  've  made  in  three 
weeks,"  said  he. 


S6  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

"You  don't  tell  me?"  says  I.  "Three  weeks? 
Well,  well." 

"  If  you  don't  believe  me,"  he  cries,  a  little  hot, 
"  you  can  go  and  look  at  the  copra-house.  It 's 
half  empty  to  this  blessed  hour." 

"  I  should  n't  be  much  the  better  for  that,  you 
see,"  says  I.  "  For  all  I  can  tell,  it  might  have 
been  whole  empty  yesterday." 

"  That 's  so,"  says  he,  with  a  bit  of  a  laugh. 

"  By  the  bye,"  I  said,  "  what  sort  of  a  party  is 
that  priest?     Seems  rather  a  friendly  sort." 

At  this  Case  laughed  right  out  loud.  "  Ah !  " 
says  he,  "  I  see  what  ails  you  now.  Galuchet  's 
been  at  you."  Father  Galoshes  was  the  name 
he  went  by  most,  but  Case  always  gave  it  the 
French  quirk,  which  was  another  reason  we  had 
for  thinking  him  above  the  common. 

"  Yes,  I  have  seen  him,"  I  says.  "  I  made  out 
he  did  n't  think  much  of  your  Captain  Randall." 

"That  he  don't!"  says  Case.  "It  was  the 
trouble  about  poor  Adams.  The  last  day,  when 
he  lay  dying,  there  was  young  Buncombe  round. 
Ever  met  Buncombe  ?  " 


THE    BEACH    OF    FALESA      37 

I  told  him  no. 

'*  He  's  a  cure,  is  Buncombe !  "  laughs  Case. 
"  Well,  Buncombe  took  it  in  his  head  that,  as 
there  was  no  other  clergyman  about,  bar  Kanaka 
pastors,  we  ought  to  call  in  Father  Galuchet,  and 
have  the  old  man  administered  and  take  the  sacra- 
ment. It  was  all  the  same  to  me,  you  may  sup- 
pose; but  I  said  I  thought  Adams  was  the  fellow 
to  consult.  He  was  jawing  away  about  watered 
copra  and  a  sight  of  foolery.  *  Look  here,'  I  said, 
'  you  're  pretty  sick.  Would  you  like  to  see  Ga- 
loshes ?  '  He  sat  right  up  on  his  elbow.  *  Get  the 
priest,'  says  he,  *  get  the  priest;  don't  let  me  die 
here  like  a  dog ! '  He  spoke  kind  of  fierce  and 
eager,  but  sensible  enough.  There  was  nothing 
to  say  against  that,  so  we  sent  and  asked  Galuchet 
if  he  would  come.  You  bet  he  would.  He  jumped 
in  his  dirty  linen  at  the  thought  of  it.  But  we 
had  reckoned  without  Papa.  He  's  a  hard-shelled 
Baptist,  is  Papa;  no  Papists  need  apply.  And  he 
took  and  locked  the  door.  Buncombe  told  him 
he  was  bigoted,  and  I  thought  he  would  have 
had   a   fit.      '  Bigoted ! '   he   says.      *  Me  bigoted  ? 


38  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

Have  I  lived  to  hear  it  from  a  jackanapes  like 
you  ? '  And  he  made  for  Buncombe,  and  I  had 
to  hold  them  apart;  and  there  was  Adams  in 
the  middle,  gone  luny  again,  and  carrying  on 
about  copra  like  a  born  fool.  It  was  good  as  the 
play,  and  I  was  about  knocked  out  of  time  with 
laughing,  when  all  of  a  sudden  Adams  sat  up, 
clapped  his  hands  to  his  chest,  and  went  into  the 
horrors.  He  died  hard,  did  John  Adams,"  says 
Case,  with  a  kind  of  a  sudden  sternness. 

*'  And  what  became  of  the  priest?  "  I  asked. 

"  The  priest?  "  says  Case.  "  Oh!  he  was  ham- 
mering on  the  door  outside,  and  crying  on  the 
natives  to  come  and  beat  it  in,  and  singing  out 
it  was  a  soul  he  wished  to  save,  and  that.  He 
was  in  a  rare  taking,  was  the  priest.  But  what 
would  you  have?  Johnny  had  slipped  his  cable; 
no  more  Johnny  in  the  market;  and  the  admin- 
istration racket  clean  played  out.  Next  thing, 
word  came  to  Randall  that  the  priest  was  pray- 
ing upon  Johnny's  grave.  Papa  was  pretty  full, 
and  got  a  club,  and  lit  out  straight  for  the  place, 
and  there  was  Galoshes  on  his  knees,  and  a  lot 


THE    BEACH    OF    FALESA      ^g 

of  natives  looking  on.  You  would  n't  think  Papa 
cared  that  much  about  anything,  unless  it  was 
liquor;  but  he  and  the  priest  stuck  to  it  two 
hours,  slanging  each  other  in  native,  and  every 
"^me  Galoshes  tried  to  kneel  down  Papa  went  for 
him  with  the  club.  There  never  were  such  larks 
in  Falesa.  The  end  of  it  was  that  Captain  Ran- 
dall knocked  over  with  some  kind  of  a  fit  or 
stroke,  and  the  priest  got  in  his  goods  after  all. 
But  he  was  the  angriest  priest  you  ever  heard  of, 
and  complained  to  the  chiefs  about  the  outrage, 
as  he  called  it.  That  was  no  account,  for  our 
chiefs  are  Protestant  here;  and,  anyway,  he  had 
been  making  trouble  about  the  drum  for  morning 
school,  and  they  were  glad  to  give  him  a  wipe. 
Now  he  swears  old  Randall  gave  Adams  poison 
or  something,  and  when  the  two  meet  they  grin 
at  each  other  like  baboons." 

He  told  this  story  as  natural  as  could  be,  and 
like  a  man  that  enjoyed  the  fun;  though  now  I 
come  to  think  of  it  after  so  long,  it  seems  rather 
a  sickening  yarn.  However,  Case  never  set  up 
to  be  soft,  only  to  be  square  and  hearty,  and  a 


40  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

man  all  round;  and,  to  tell  the  truth,  he  puzzled 
me  entirely. 

I  went  home  and  asked  Uma  if  she  were  a 
Popey,  which  I  had  made  out  to  be  the  native 
word  for  Catholics. 

"  E  le  ai!  "  says  she.  She  always  used  the  na- 
tive when  she  meant  "  no "  more  than  usually 
strong,  and,  indeed,  there 's  more  of  it.  "  No 
good  Popey,"  she  added. 

Then  I  asked  her  about  Adams  and  the  priest, 
and  she  told  me  much  the  same  yarn  in  her  own 
way.  So  that  I  was  left  not  much  farther  on,  but 
inclined,  upon  the  whole,  to  think  the  bottom  of 
the  matter  was  the  row  about  the  sacrament,  and 
the  poisoning  only  talk. 

The  next  day  was  a  Sunday,  when  there  was 
no  business  to  be  looked  for.  Uma  asked  me  in 
the  morning  if  I  was  going  to  "  pray ;  "  I  told 
her  she  bet  not,  and  she  stopped  home  herself, 
with  no  more  words.  I  thought  this  seemed  un- 
like a  native,  and  a  native  woman,  and  a  woman 
that  had  new  clothes  to  show  off;  however,  it 
suited  me  to  the  ground,  and  T  made  the  less  of 


THE    BEACH    OF    FALESA      41 

it.  The  queer  thing  was  that  I  came  next  door 
to  going  to  church  after  all,  a  thing  I  'm  little 
likely  to  forget.  I  had  turned  out  for  a  stroll, 
and  heard  the  hymn  tune  up.  You  know  how  it 
is.  If  you  hear  folk  singing,  it  seems  to  draw 
you;  and  pretty  soon  T  found  myself  alongside 
the  church.  It  was  a  little,  long,  low  place,  coral 
built,  rounded  off  at  both  ends  like  a  whale-boat, 
a  big  native  roof  on  the  top  of  it,  windows  with- 
out sashes  and  doorways  without  doors.  I  stuck 
my  head  into  one  of  the  windows,  and  the  sight 
was  so  new  to  me  —  for  things  went  quite  dif- 
ferent in  the  islands  I  was  acquainted  with  —  that 
I  stayed  and  looked  on.  The  congregation  sat 
on  the  floor  on  mats,  the  women  on  one  side,  the 
men  on  the  other,  all  rigged  out  to  kill  —  the 
women  with  dresses  and  trade  hats,  the  men  in 
white  jackets  and  shirts.  The  hymn  was  over; 
the  pastor,  a  big  buck  Kanaka,  w^as  in  the  pulpit, 
preaching  for  his  life ;  and  by  the  way  he  wagged 
his  hand,  and  w^orked  his  voice,  and  made  his 
points,  and  seemed  to  argue  w^ith  the  folk,  I  made 
out  he  was  a  gun  at  the  business.    Well,  he  looked 


42  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

up  suddenly  and  caught  my  eye,  and  I  give  you 
my  word  he  staggered  in  the  pulpit;  his  eyes 
bulged  out  of  his  head,  his  hand  rose  and  pointed 
at  me  like  as  if  against  his  will,  and  the  sermon 
stopped  right  there. 

It  is  n't  a  fine  thing  to  say  for  yourself,  but  1 
ran  away;  and,  if  the  same  kind  of  a  shock  was 
given  me,  I  should  run  away  again  to-morrow. 
To  see  that  palavering  Kanaka  struck  all  of  a 
heap  at  the  mere  sight  of  me  gave  me  a  feeling 
as  if  the  bottom  had  dropped  out  of  the  world.  I 
went  right  home,  and  stayed  there,  and  said  noth- 
ing. You  might  think  I  would  tell  Uma,  but  that 
was  against  my  system.  You  might  have  thought 
I  would  have  gone  over  and  consulted  Case;  but 
the  truth  was  I  was  ashamed  to  speak  of  such  a 
thing,  I  thought  every  one  would  blurt  out  laugh- 
ing in  my  face.  So  I  held  my  tongue,  and  thought 
all  the  more;  and  the  more  I  thought,  the  less  I 
liked  the  business. 

By  Monday  night  I  got  it  clearly  in  my 
head  I  must  be  tabooed.  A  new  store  to  stand 
open    two    days    in    a    village    and    not    a    man 


THE    BEACH    OF    FALESA      43 

or  woman  come  to  see  the  trade,  was  past 
believing. 

"  Uma/'  said  I,  "  I  think  I  'm  tabooed." 

"  I  think  so,"  said  she. 

I  thought  awhile  whether  I  should  ask  her 
more,  but  it 's  a  bad  idea  to  set  natives  up  with 
any  notion  of  consulting  them,  so  I  went  to  Case. 
It  was  dark,  and  he  was  sitting  alone,  as  he  did 
mostly,  smoking  on  the  stairs. 

''  Case,"  said  I,  "  here  's  a  queer  thing.  I  'm 
tabooed." 

"  Oh,  fudge!  "  says  he;  "  't  ain't  the  practice  in 
these  islands." 

"  That  may  be,  or  it  may  n't,"  said  I.  "  It 's  the 
practice  where  I  was  before.  You  can  bet  I  know 
what  it 's  like ;  and  I  tell  it  you  for  a  fact,  I  'm 
tabooed." 

"  Well,"  said  he,  "  what  have  you  been  doing?  " 

"  That 's  what  I  want  to  find  out,"  said  I. 

"Oh,  you  can't  be,"  said  he;  "it  ain't  possible. 
However,  I  '11  tell  you  what  I  '11  do.  Just  to  put 
your  mind  at  rest,  I  '11  go  round  and  find  out  for 
sure.     Just  you  waltz  in  and  talk  to  Papa." 


44  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

"  Thank  you,"  I  said,  ''  I  'd  rather  stay  right 
out  here  on  the  veranda.    Your  house  is  so  close." 

"  I  '11  call  Papa  out  here,  then,"  says  he. 

"  My  dear  fellow,"  I  says,  "  I  wish  you 
wouldn't.  The  fact  is,  I  don't  take  to  Mr. 
Randall." 

Case  laughed,  took  a  lantern  from  the  store, 
and  set  out  into  the  village.  He  was  gone  per- 
haps a  quarter  of  an  hour,  and  he  looked  mighty 
serious  when  he  came  back. 

"  Well,"  said  he,  clapping  down  the  lantern  on 
the  veranda  steps,  "  I  would  never  have  believed 
it.  I  don't  know  where  the  impudence  of  these 
Kanakas  '11  go  next ;  they  seem  to  have  lost  all 
idea  of  respect  for  whites.  What  we  want  is 
a  man-of-war  —  a  German,  if  we  could  —  they 
know  how  to  manage  Kanakas." 

"  I  am  tabooed,  then  ?  "  I  cried. 

"  Something  of  the  sort,"  said  he.  "  It 's  the 
worst  thing  of  the  kind  I  've  heard  of  yet.  But 
I  '11  stand  by  you,  Wiltshire,  man  to  man.  You 
come  round  here  to-morrow  about  nine,  and 
we  '11    have    it    out    with    the    chiefs.      They  're 


THE    BEACH    OF   FALESA      45 

afraid  of  me,  or  they  used  to  be;  but  their  heads 
are  so  big  by  now,  I  don't  know  what  to  think. 
Understand  me,  Wiltshire;  I  don't  count  this 
your  quarrel,"  he  went  on,  with  a  great  deal  of 
resolution,  "  T  count  it  all  of  our  quarrel,  I  count 
it  the  White  Man's  Quarrel,  and  I  '11  stand  to  it 
through  thick  and  thin,  and  there 's  my  hand 
on  it." 

"  Have  you  found  out  what 's  the  reason  ?  "  I 
asked. 

''Not  yet,"  said  Case.  "But  we'll  fire  them 
down  to-morrow." 

Altogether  I  was  pretty  well  pleased  with  his 
attitude,  and  almost  more  the  next  day,  when  we 
met  to  go  before  the  chiefs,  to  see  him  so  stern 
and  resolved.  The  chiefs  awaited  us  in  one  of 
their  big  oval  houses,  which  was  marked  out  to 
us  from  a  long  way  off  by  the  crowd  about  the 
eaves,  a  hundred  strong  if  there  was  one  —  men, 
women,  and  children.  Many  of  the  men  were 
on  their  way  to  work  and  wore  green  wreaths, 
and  it  put  me  in  thoughts  of  the  first  of  May  at 
home.     This  crowd  opened  and  buzzed  about  the 


46  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

pair  of  us  as  we  went  in,  with  a  sudden  angry 
animation.  Five  chiefs  were  there;  four  mighty, 
stately  men,  the  fifth  old  and  puckered.  They  sat 
on  mats  in  their  white  kilts  and  jackets;  they 
had  fans  in  their  hands,  like  fine  ladies;  and  two 
of  the  younger  ones  wore  Catholic  medals,  which 
gave  me  matter  of  reflection.  Our  place  was  set, 
and  the  mats  laid  for  us  over  against  these  gran- 
dees, on  the  near  side  of  the  house;  the  midst 
was  empty;  the  crowd,  close  at  our  backs,  mur- 
mured and  craned  and  jostled  to  look  on,  and  the 
shadows  of  them  tossed  in  front  of  us  on  the 
clean  pebbles  of  the  floor.  I  was  just  a  hair  put 
out  by  the  excitement  of  the  commons,  but  the 
quiet,  civil  appearance  of  the  chiefs  reassured  me, 
all  the  more  when  their  spokesman  began  and 
made  a  long  speech  in  a  low  tone  of  voice,  some- 
times waving  his  hand  toward  Case,  sometimes 
toward  me,  and  sometimes  knocking  with  his 
knuckles  on  the  mat.  One  thing  was  clear :  there 
was  no  sign  of  anger  in  the  chiefs. 

"What's  he  been  saying?"  I  asked,  when  he 
had   done. 


THE    BEACH    OF    FALESA      47 

''  Oh,  just  that  they  're  glad  to  see  you,  and 
they  understand  by  me  you  wish  to  make  some 
kind  of  complaint,  and  you  're  to  fire  away,  and 
they  '11  do  the  square  thing." 

"  It  took  a  precious  long  time  to  say  that," 
said  I. 

''  Oh,  the  rest  was  sawder  and  honjour  and 
that,"  said  Case.  "  You  know  what  Kanakas 
are." 

"  Well,  they  don't  get  much  honjour  out  of 
me,"  said  I.  "  You  tell  them  who  I  am.  I  'm  a 
white  man,  and  a  British  subject,  and  no  end  of 
a  big  chief  at  home ;  and  I  've  come  here  to  do 
them  good,  and  bring  them  civilisation ;  and  no 
sooner  have  I  got  my  trade  sorted  out  than  they 
go  and  taboo  me,  and  no  one  dare  come  near  my 
place,'  Tell  them  I  don't  mean  to  fly  in  the  face 
of  anything  legal ;  and  if  what  they  want 's  a 
present,  I  '11  do  what 's  fair.  I  don't  blame  any 
man  looking  out  for  himself,  tell  them,  for  that 's 
human  nature ;  but  if  they  think  they  're  going 
to  come  any  of  their  native  ideas  over  me,  they  '11 
find   themselves   mistaken.      And   tell   them   plain 


48  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

that  I  demand  the  reason  of  this  treatment  as  a 
white  man  and  a  British  subject." 

That  was  my  speech.  I  knew  how  to  deal  with 
Kanakas :  give  them  plain  sense  and  fair  deal- 
ing, and  —  I  '11  do  them  that  much  justice  —  they 
knuckle  under  every  time.  They  have  n't  any  real 
government  or  any  real  law,  that 's  what  you  've 
got  to  knock  into  their  heads;  and  even  if  they 
had,  it  would  be  a  good  joke  if  it  was  to  apply 
to  a  white  man.  It  would  be  a  strange  thing  if 
we  came  all  this  way  and  could  n't  do  what  we 
pleased.  The  mere  idea  has  always  put  my  mon- 
key up,  and  I  rapped  my  speech  out  pretty  big. 
Then  Case  translated  it  —  or  made  believe  to, 
rather  —  and  the  first  chief  replied,  and  then  a 
second,  and  a  third,  all  in  the  same  style  —  easy 
and  genteel,  but  solemn  underneath.  Once  a 
question  was  put  to  Case,  and  he  answered  it, 
and  all  hands  (both  chiefs  and  commons)  laughed 
out  aloud,  and  looked  at  me.  Last  of  all,  the 
puckered  old  fellow  and  the  big  young  chief  that 
spoke  first  started  in  to  put  Case  through  a  kind 
of  catechism.     Sometimes  I  made  out  that  Case 


THE    BEACH    OF    FALESA      49 

was  trying  to  fence,  and  they  stuck  to  him  hke 
hounds,  and  the  sweat  ran  down  his  face,  which 
was  no  very  pleasant  sight  to  me,  and  at  some 
of  his  answers  the  crowd  moaned  and  murmured, 
which  was  a  worse  hearing.  It 's  a  cruel  shame 
I  knew  no  native,  for  (as  I  now  believe)  they 
were  asking  Case  about  my  marriage,  and  he 
must  have  had  a  tough  job  of  it  to  clear  his  feet. 
But  leave  Case  alone;  he  had  the  brains  to  run 
a  parliament. 

"  Well,  is  that  all  ? "  I  asked,  when  a  pause 
came. 

"  Come  along,"  says  he,  mopping  his  face ; 
"  I  '11  tell  you  outside." 

"  Do  you  mean  they  won't  take  the  taboo 
off?"  I  cried. 

"  It 's  something  queer,"  said  he.  "  I  '11  tell 
you  outside.     Better  come  away." 

"  I  won't  take  it  at  their  hands,"  cried  I.  "  I 
ain't  that  kind  of  a  man.  You  don't  find  me  turn 
my  back  on  a  parcel  of  Kanakas." 

"You'd  better,"  said  Case. 

He  looked  at  me  with  a  signal  in  his  eye;   and 
4 


50  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

the  five  chiefs  looked  at  me  civilly  enough,  but 
kind  of  pointed;  and  the  people  looked  at  me 
and  craned  and  jostled.  I  remembered  the  folks 
that  watched  my  house,  and  how  the  pastor  had 
jumped  in  his  pulpit  at  the  bare  sight  of  me; 
and  the  whole  business  seemed  so  out  of  the  way 
that  I  rose  and  followed  Case.  The  crowd  opened 
again  to  let  us  through,  but  wider  than  before, 
the  children  on  the  skirts  running  and  singing 
out,  and  as  we  two  white  men  walked  away  they 
all  stood  and  watched  us. 

"  And  now,"  said  I,  "  what  is  all  this  about?  " 

"  The  truth  is  I  can't  rightly  make  it  out  my- 
self.    They  have  a  down  on  you,"  says  Case. 

"  Taboo  a  man  because  they  have  a  down  on 
him !  "  I  cried.     "  I  never  heard  the  like." 

"  It 's  worse  than  that,  you  see,"  said  Case. 
"  You  ain't  tabooed  —  I  told  you  that  could  n't 
be.  The  people  won't  go  near  you,  Wiltshire,  and 
there  's  where  it  is." 

"  They  won't  go  near  me  ?  What  do  you  mean 
by  that?  Why  won't  they  go  near  me?"  I 
cried. 


THE   BEACH    OF    FALESA      51 

Case  hesitated.  '"  Seems  they  're  frightened," 
says  he,   in  a  low  voice. 

I  stopped  dead  short.  "  Frightened  ?  "  I  re- 
peated. "Are  you  gone  crazy.  Case?  What  are 
they  frightened  of?" 

"  I  wish  I  could  make  out,"  Case  answered, 
shaking  his  head.  ''  Appears  like  one  of  their 
tomfool  superstitions.  That 's  what  I  don't  cot- 
ton to,"  he  said.  "  It 's  like  the  business  about 
Vigours." 

"  I  'd  like  to  know  what  you  mean  by  that,  and 
I  '11  trouble  you  to  tell  me,"  says  I. 

"  Well,  you  know,  Vigours  lit  out  and  left  all 
standing,"  said  he.  "  It  was  some  superstition 
business  —  I  never  got  the  hang  of  it ;  but  it 
began  to  look  bad  before  the  end." 

"  I  've  heard  a  different  story  about  that,"  said 
I,  "  and  I  had  better  tell  you  so.  I  heard  he 
ran  away  because  of  you." 

**  Oh !  well,  I  suppose  he  w^as  ashamed  to  tell 
the  truth,"  says  Case ;  "  I  guess  he  thought  it 
silly.  And  it 's  a  fact  that  I  packed  him  off. 
*  What  would  you  do,  old  man  ? '  says  he.     '  Get,' 


52  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

says  I,  *  and  not  think  twice  about  it.'  I  was  the 
gladdest  kind  of  man  to  see  him  clear  away.  It 
ain't  my  notion  to  turn  my  back  on  a  mate  when 
he  's  in  a  tight  place,  but  there  was  that  much 
trouble  in  the  village  that  I  could  n't  see  where 
it  might  likely  end.  I  was  a  fool  to  be  so  much 
about  with  Vigours.  They  cast  it  up  to  me  to- 
day. Did  n't  you  hear  Maea  —  that 's  the  young 
chief,  the  big  one  —  ripping  out  about  *  Vika  '  ? 
That  was  him  they  were  after.  They  don't  seem 
to  forget  it,  somehow." 

"  This  is  all  very  well,"  said  I,  "  but  it  don't  tell 
me  what 's  wTong ;  it  don't  tell  me  what  they  're 
afraid  of  —  what  their  idea  is." 

"Well,  I  wish  I  knew,"  said  Case.  "I  can't 
say  fairer  than  that." 

"  You  might  have  asked,  I  think,"  says  I. 

"  And  so  I  did,"  says  he.  "  But  you  must  have 
seen  for  yourself,  unless  you  're  blind,  that  the 
asking  got  the  other  way.  I  '11  go  as  far  .as  I  dare 
for  another  white  man ;  but  when  I  find  I  'm  in 
the  scrape  myself,  I  think  first  of  my  own  bacon. 
The  loss  of  me  is  I  'm  too  good-natured.     And 


THE    BEACH    OF    FALESA      53 

I  '11  take  the  freedom  of  telling  you  you  show  a 
queer  kind  of  gratitude  to  a  man  who  's  got  into 
all  this  mess  along  of  your  affairs." 

"  There 's  a  thing  I  'm  thinking  of,"  said  I. 
*'  You  were  a  fool  to  be  so  much  about  with 
Vigours.  One  comfort,  you  have  n't  been  much 
about  with  me.  I  notice  you  've  never  been  in- 
side my  house.  Own  up  now;  you  had  word  of 
this  before?" 

"  It 's  a  fact  I  have  n't  been,"  said  he.  ''  It 
was  an  oversight,  and  I  am  sorry  for  it,  Wiltshire. 
But  about  coming  now,  I  '11  be  quite  plain." 

"You  mean  you  won't?"  I  asked. 

"  Awfully  sorry,  old  man,  but  that 's  the  size 
of  it,"  says  Case. 

"In  short,  you're  afraid?"  says  I. 

"  In  short,  I  'm  afraid,"  says  he. 

"And  I'm  still  to  be  tabooed  for  nothing?" 
I  asked. 

"  I  tell  you  you  're  not  tabooed,"  said  he.  "  The 
Kanakas  w^on't  go  near  you,  that 's  all.  And 
who  's  to  make  'em  ?  We  traders  have  a  lot  of 
gall,   I  must  say;  we  make  these  poor  Kanakas 


54  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

take  back  their  laws,  and  take  up  their  taboos, 
and  that,  whenever  it  happens  to  suit  us.  But 
you  don't  mean  to  say  you  expect  a  law  obliging 
people  to  deal  in  your  store  whether  they  want 
to  or  not  ?  You  don't  mean  to  tell  me  you  've  got 
the  gall  for  that?  And  if  you  had,  it  would  be  a 
queer  thing  to  propose  to  me.  I  would  just  like 
to  point  out  to  you,  Wiltshire,  that  I  'm  a  trader 
myself." 

"  I  don't  think  I  would  talk  of  gall  if  I  was 
you,"  said  I.  "  Here  's  about  what  it  comes  to, 
as  well  as  I  can  make  out :  None  of  the  people  are 
to  trade  with  me,  and  they  're  all  to  trade  with 
you.  You  're  to  have  the  copra,  and  I  'm  to  go  to 
the  devil  and  shake  myself.  And  I  don't  know  any 
native,  and  you  're  the  only  man  here  worth  men- 
tion that  speaks  English,  and  you  have  the  gall  to 
np  and  hint  to  me  my  life  's  in  danger,  and  all 
you  've  got  to  tell  me  is  you  don't  know  why !  " 

"  Well,  it  is  all  I  have  to  tell  you,"  said  he. 
'*  I  don't  know  —  I  wish   I   did." 

"  And  so  you  turn  your  back  and  leave  me  to 
myself!    is  that  the  position?"  says  I. 


THE    BEACH    OF    FALESA      55 

"  If  you  like  to  put  it  nasty,"  says  he.  "  I 
don't  put  it  so.  I  say  merely,  '  I  'm  going  to 
keep  clear  of  you ;  or,  if  I  don't,  I  '11  get  in 
danger  for  myself.'  " 

"  Well,"  says  I,  "  you  're  a  nice  kind  of  a 
white  man!  " 

"  Oh,  I  understand ;  you  're  riled,"  said  he.  "  I 
would  be  myself.     I  can  make  excuses." 

"  All  right,"  I  said,  "  go  and  make  ex- 
cuses somewhere  else.  Here  's  my  way,  there  's 
yours !  " 

With  that  we  parted,  and  I  went  straight  home, 
in  a  hot  temper,  and  found  Uma  trying  on  a  lot 
of  trade  goods  like  a  baby. 

"  Here,"  I  said,  "  you  quit  that  foolery!  Here  's 
pretty  mess  to  have  made,  as  if  I  was  n't  both- 
ered enough  anyway!  And  I  thought  I  told  you 
to  get  dinner !  " 

And  then  I  believe  I  gave  her  a  bit  of  the  rough 
side  of  my  tongue,  as  she  deserved.  She  stood 
up  at  once,  like  a  sentry  to  his  officer ;  for  I  must 
say  she  was  always  well  brought  up,  and  had  a 
great  respect  for  whites. 


56  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

"  And  now,"  says  I,  "  you  belong  round  here, 
you  're  bound  to  understand  this.  What  am  1 
tabooed  for,  anyway?  Or,  if  I  ain't  tabooed,  what 
makes  the  folks  afraid  of  me?" 

She  stood  and  looked  at  me  with  eyes  like 
saucers. 

"You  no  savvy?"  she  gasps  at  last. 

**  No,"  said  I.  "  How  would  you  expect  me 
to?  We  don't  have  any  such  craziness  where  I 
come  from." 

"  Ese  no  tell  you  ?  "  she  asked  again. 

(Ese  was  the  name  the  natives  had  for  Case; 
it  may  mean  foreign,  or  extraordinary;  or  it 
might  mean  a  mummy  apple;  but  most  like  it 
was  only  his  own  narrie  misheard  and  put  in  a 
Kanaka  spelling.) 

"  Not  much,"  said  I. 

"D— n  Ese!"  she  cried. 

You  might  think  it  funny  to  hear  this  Kanaka 
girl  come  out  with  a  big  swear.  No  such  thing. 
There  was  no  swearing  in  her  —  no,  nor  anger; 
she  was  beyond  anger,  and  meant  the  word  simple 
and  serious.     She  stood  there  straight  as  she  said 


THE    BEACH    OF    FALESA      57 

it.  I  cannot  justly  say  that  I  ever  saw  a  woman 
look  like  that  before  or  after,  and  it  struck  me 
mum.  Then  she  made  a  kind  of  an  obeisance, 
but  it  was  the  proudest  kind,  and  threw  her  hands 
out  open. 

"  I  'shamed,"  she  said.  ''  I  think  you  savvy. 
Ese  he  tell  me  you  savvy,  he  tell  me  you  no  mind, 
tell  me  you  love  me  too  much.  Taboo  belong 
me,"  she  said,  touching  herself  on  the  bosom,  as 
she  had  done  upon  our  w^edding-night.  ''  Now 
I  go  'way,  taboo  he  go  'way  too.  Then  you  get 
too  much  copra.  You  like  more  better,  I  think. 
Tofd,  alii/'  says  she  in  the  native  —  "  Farewell, 
chief!" 

"Hold  on!"  I  cried.  "Don't  be  in  such  a 
hurry." 

She  looked  at  me  sidelong  with  a  smile.  "  You 
see,  you  get  copra,"  she  said,  the  same  as  you 
might  offer  candies  to  a  child. 

"  Uma,"  said  I,  "  hear  reason.  I  did  n't  know, 
and  that 's  a  fact ;  and  Case  seems  to  have  played 
it  pretty  mean  upon  the  pair  of  us.  But  I  do 
know   now,   and   I   don't   mind ;   I   love  you   too 


58  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

much.  You  no  go  'way,  you  no  leave  me,  I  too 
much  sorry." 

"  You  no  love  me,"  she  cried,  "  you  talk  me 
bad  words ! "  And  she  threw  herself  in  a  corner 
of  the  floor,  and  began  to  cry. 

Well,  I  'm  no  scholar,  but  I  was  n't  born  yes- 
terday, and  I  thought  the  worst  of  that  trouble 
was  over.  However,  there  she  lay  —  her  back 
turned,  her  face  to  the  wall  —  and  shook  with 
sobbing  like  a  little  child,  so  that  her  feet  jumped 
with  it.  It 's  strange  how  it  hits  a  man  when 
he  's  in  love ;  for  there  's  no  use  mincing  things ; 
Kanaka  and  all,  I  was  in  love  with  her,  or  just 
as  good.  I  tried  to  take  her  hand,  but  she  would 
none  of  that.  "  Uma,"  I  said,  "  there  's  no  sense 
in  carrying  on  like  this.  I  want  you  stop  here, 
I  want  my  little  wifie,  I  tell  you  true." 

"  No  tell  me  true,"  she  sobbed. 

"All  right,"  says  I,  "I'll  wait  till  you're 
through  with  this."  And  I  sat  right  down  be- 
side her  on  the  floor,  and  set  to  smooth  her  hair 
with  my  hand.  At  first  she  wriggled  away  when 
I  touched  her;  then  she  seemed  to  notice  me  no 


THE    BEACH    OF    FALESA      59 

more;  then  her  sobs  grew  gradually  less,  and 
presently  stopped;  and  the  next  thing  I  knew, 
she  raised  her  face  to  mine. 

"  You  tell  me  true  ?  You  like  me  stop  ?  "  she 
asked. 

"  Uma,"  I  said,  "  I  would  rather  have  you  than 
all  the  copra  in  the  South  Seas,"  which  was  a 
very  big  expression,  and  the  strangest  thing  was 
that  I  meant  it. 

She  threw  her  arms  about  me,  sprang  close 
up,  and  pressed  her  face  to  mine,  in  the  island  way 
of  kissing,  so  that  I  was  all  wetted  with  her  tears, 
and  my  heart  went  out  to  her  wholly.  I  never 
had  anything  so  near  me  as  this  little  brown 
bit  of  a  girl.  Many  things  went  together,  and 
all  helped  to  turn  my  head.  She  was  pretty 
enough  to  eat;  it  seemed  she  was  my  only  friend 
in  that  queer  place;  I  was  ashamed  that  I  had 
spoken  rough  to  her:  and  she  was  a  woman,  and 
my  wife,  and  a  kind  of  a  baby  besides  that  I  was 
sorry  for;  and  the  salt  of  her  tears  was  in  my 
mouth.  And  I  forgot  Case  and  the  natives;  and 
I   forgot   that   I   knew   nothing  of  the   story,   or 


6o  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

only  remembered  it  to  banish  the  remembrance; 
and  I  forgot  that  I  was  to  get  no  copra,  and  so 
could  make  no  livelihood;  and  I  forgot  my  em- 
ployers, and  the  strange  kind  of  service  I  was 
doing  them,  when  I  preferred  my  fancy  to  their 
business;  and  I  forgot  even  that  Uma  was  no 
true  wife  of  mine,  but  just  a  maid  beguiled,  and 
that  in  a  pretty  shabby  style.  But  that  is  to 
look  too  far  on.  I  will  come  to  that  part  of  it 
next. 

It  was  late  before  we  thought  of  getting  din- 
ner. The  stove  was  out,  and  gone  stone  cold; 
but  we  fired  up  after  awhile,  and  cooked  each 
a  dish,  helping  and  hindering  each  other,  and 
making  a  play  of  it  like  children.  I  was  so  greedy 
of  her  nearness  that  I  sat  down  to  dinner  with 
my  lass  upon  my  knee,  made  sure  of  her  with 
one  hand,  and  ate  with  the  other.  Ay,  and  more 
than  that.  She  was  the  worst  cook  I  suppose  God 
made;  the  things  she  set  her  hand  to  it  would 
have  sickened  an  honest  horse  to  eat  of;  yet  I 
made  my  meal  that  day  on  Uma's  cookery,  and 
can  never  call  to  mind  to  have  been  better  pleased. 


THE    BEACH    OF    FALESA      6i 

I  did  n't  pretend  to  myself,  and  I  did  n't  pretend 
to  her.  I  saw  I  was  clean  gone;  and  if  she  was 
to  make  a  fool  of  me,  she  must.  And  I  suppose 
it  was  this  that  set  her  talking,  for  now  she  made 
sure  that  we  were  friends.  A  lot  she  told  me, 
sitting  in  my  lap  and  eating  my  dish,  as  I  ate 
hers,  from  foolery  —  a  lot  about  herself  and  her 
mother  and  Case,  all  which  would  be  very  te- 
dious, and  fill  sheets  if  I  set  it  down  in  Beach 
de  Mar,  but  which  I  must  give  a  hint  of  in  plain 
English,  and  one  thing  about  myself,  which  had 
a  very  big  effect  on  my  concerns,  as  you  are 
soon  to  hear. 

It  seems  she  was  born  in  one  of  the  Line  Isl- 
ands; had  been  only  two  or  three  years  in  these 
parts,  where  she  had  come  with  a  white  man, 
who  was  married  to  her  mother  and  then  died; 
and  only  the  one  year  in  Falesa.  Before  that 
they  had  been  a  good  deal  on  the  move,  trekking 
about  after  the  white  man,  who  was  one  of  those 
rolling  stones  that  keep  going  round  after  a  soft 
job.  They  talk  about  looking  for  gold  at  the 
end  of  a  rainbow ;  but  if  a  man  wants  an  employ- 


62  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

ment  that  *11  last  him  till  he  dies,  let  him  start 
out  on  the  soft-job  hunt.  There  's  meat  and  drink 
in  it  too,  and  beer  and  skittles,  for  you  never 
hear  of  them  starving,  and  rarely  see  them  so- 
ber ;  and  as  for  steady  sport,  cock-fighting  is  n't 
in  the  same  county  with  it.  Anyway,  this  beach- 
comber carried  the  woman  and  her  daughter  all 
over  the  shop,  but  mostly  to  out-of-the-way  isl- 
ands, where  there  were  no  police,  and  he  thought, 
perhaps,  the  soft  job  hung  out.  I  've  my  own 
view  of  this  old  party;  but  I  was  just  as  glad  he 
had  kept  Uma  clear  of  Apia  and  Papeete  and 
these  flash  towns.  At  last  he  struck  Fale-alii  on 
this  island,  got  some  trade  —  the  Lord  knows 
how !  —  muddled  it  all  away  in  the  usual  style, 
and  died  worth  next  to  nothing,  bar  a  bit  of  land 
at  Falesa  that  he  had  got  for  a  bad  debt,  which 
was  what  put  it  in  the  minds  of  the  mother  and 
daughter  to  come  there  and  live.  It  seems  Case 
encouraged  them  all  he  could,  and  helped  to  get 
their  house  built.  He  was  very  kind  those  days, 
and  gave  Uma  trade,  and  there  is  no  doubt  he 
had  his  eye  on  her  from  the  beginning.     How- 


THE    BEACH    OF    FALESA      63 

ever,  they  had  scarce  settled,  when  up  turned  a 
young  man,  a  native,  and  wanted  to  marry  her. 
He  was  a  small  chief,  and  had  some  fine  mats  and 
old  songs  in  his  family,  and  was  "  very  pretty,'* 
Uma  said ;  and,  altogether,  it  was  an  extraordinary 
match  for  a  penniless  girl  and  an  out-islander. 

At  the  first  word  of  this  I  got  downright  sick 
with  jealousy. 

"And  you  mean  to  say  you  would  have  mar- 
ried him  ?  "  I  cried. 

"  Joe,  yes,"  said  she.     "  I  like  too  much !  " 

"  Well !  "  I  said.  "  And  suppose  I  had  come 
round  after?  " 

"  I  like  you  more  better  now,"  said  she.  "  But 
suppose  I  marry  loane,  I  one  good  wife.  I  no 
common  Kanaka.     Good  girl !  "  says  she. 

Well,  I  had  to  be  pleased  with  that;  but  I 
promise  you  I  did  n't  care  about  the  business  one 
little  bit.  And  I  liked  the  end  of  that  yarn  no 
better  than  the  beginning.  For  it  seems  this  pro- 
posal of  marriage  was  the  start  of  all  the  trouble. 
It  seems,  before  that,  Uma  and  her  mother  had 
been  looked   down   upon,   of  course,    for  kinless 


64  ISLAND   NIGHTS 

folk  and  out-islanders,  but  nothing  to  hurt;  and, 
even  when  loane  came  forward,  there  was  less 
trouble  at  first  than  might  have  been  looked  for. 
And  then,  all  of  a  sudden,  about  six  months  be- 
fore my  coming,  loane  backed  out  and  left  that 
part  of  the  island,  and  from  that  day  to  this  Uma 
and  her  mother  had  found  themselves  alone. 
None  called  at  their  house  —  none  spoke  to  them 
on  the  roads.  If  they  went  to  church,  the  other 
women  drew  their  mats  away  and  left  them  in  a 
clear  place  by  themselves.  It  was  a  regular  ex- 
communication, like  what  you  read  of  in  the  Mid- 
dle Ages;  and  the  cause  or  sense  of  it  beyond 
guessing.  It  was  some  talo  pepelo,  Uma  said, 
some  lie,  some  calumny;  and  all  she  knew  of  it 
was  that  the  girls  who  had  been  jealous  of  her 
luck  with  loane  used  to  twit  her  with  his  deser- 
tion, and  cry  out,  when  they  met  her  alone  in  the 
woods,  that  she  would  never  be  married.  "  They 
tell  me  no  man  he  marry  me.  He  too  much  'fraid," 
she  said. 

The  only  soul  that  came  about  them  after  this 
desertion  was  Master  Case.     Even  he  was  chary 


THE    BEACH    OF    FALESA      65 

of  showing  himself,  and  turned  up  mostly  by 
night ;  and  pretty  soon  he  began  to  table  his  cards 
and  make  up  to  Uma.  I  was  still  sore  about 
loane,  and  when  Case  turned  up  in  the  same  line 
of  business  I  cut  up  downright  rough. 

"  Well,"  I  said,  sneering,  "  and  I  suppose  you 
thought  Case  *  very  pretty '  and  '  liked  too 
much'?" 

"  Now  you  talk  silly,"  said  she.  "  White  man, 
he  come  here,  I  marry  him  all-a-same  Kanaka; 
very  well  then,  he  marry  me  all-e-same  white 
woman.  Suppose  he  no  marry,  he  go  'way, 
woman  he  stop.  All-e-same  thief,  empty  hand, 
Tonga-heart  —  no  can  love !  Now  you  come 
marry  me.  You  big  heart  —  you  no  'shamed 
island-girl.  That  thing  I  love  you  far  too  much. 
I  proud." 

I  don't  know  that  ever  I  felt  sicker  all  the  days 
of  my  life.  I  laid  down  my  fork,  and  I  put  away 
the  "  island-girl ; "  I  did  n't  seem  somehow  to 
have  any  use  for  either,  and  I  went  and  walked 
up  and  down  in  the  house,  and  Uma  followed  me 
with  her  eyes,   for  she  was  troubled,   and  small 


66  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

wonder!  But  troubled  was  no  word  for  it  with 
me.  I  so  wanted,  and  so  feared,  to  make  a  clean 
breast  of  the  sweep  that  I  had  been. 

And  just  then  there  came  a  sound  of  singing 
out  of  the  sea;  it  sprang  up  suddenly  clear  and 
near,  as  the  boat  turned  the  headland,  and  Uma, 
running  to  the  window,  cried  out  it  was  "  Misi " 
come  upon  his  rounds. 

I  thought  it  was  a  strange  thing  I  should  be 
glad  to  have  a  missionary;  but,  if  it  was  strange, 
it  was  still  true. 

"  Uma,"  said  I,  "  you  stop  here  in  this  room, 
and  don't  budge  a  foot  out  of  it  till  I  come 
back/' 


CHAPTER   III 

THE    MISSIONARY 

AS  I  came  out  on  the  veranda,  the  mission- 
/~%  boat  was  shooting  for  the  mouth  of  the 
river.  She  was  a  long  whale-boat  painted 
white;  a  bit  of  an  awning  astern;  a  native  pastor 
crouched  on  the  wedge  of  poop,  steering;  some 
four-and-twenty  paddles  flashing  and  dipping, 
true  to  the  boat-song;  and  the  missionary  under 
the  awning,  in  his  white  clothes,  reading  in  a  book ; 
and  set  him  up!  It  was  pretty  to  see  and  hear; 
there 's  no  smarter  sight  in  the  islands  than  a 
missionary  boat  with  a  good  crew  and  a  good 
pipe  to  them;  and  I  considered  it  for  half  a  min- 
ute with  a  bit  of  envy  perhaps,  and  then  strolled 
down  toward  the  river. 

From  the  opposite  side  there  was  another  man 
aiming  for  the  same  place,  but  he  ran  and  got 
there  first.     It  was  Case;  doubtless  his  idea  was 


68  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

to  keep  me  apart  from  the  missionary,  who  might 
serve  me  as  interpreter;  but  my  mind  was  upon 
other  things.  I  was  thinking  how  he  had  jock- 
eyed us  about  the  marriage,  and  tried  his  hand 
on  Uma  before;  and  at  the  sight  of  him  rage 
flew  into  my  nostrils. 

"  Get  out  of  that,  you  low,  swindling  thief ! " 
I  cried. 

"What's  that  you  say?"  says  he. 

I  gave  him  the  word  again,  and  rammed  it 
down  with  a  good  oath.  "  And  if  ever  I  catch 
you  within  six  fathoms  of  my  house,"  I  cried, 
"  I  '11  clap  a  bullet  in  your  measly  carcass." 

"  You  must  do  as  you  like  about  your  house," 
said  he,  "  where  I  told  you  I  have  no  thought  of 
going;  but  this  is  a  public  place." 

"  It 's  a  place  where  I  have  private  business," 
said  I.  "  I  have  no  idea  of  a  hound  like  you 
eavesdropping,  and  I  give  you  notice  to  clear 
out." 

"  I  don't  take  it,  though,"  says  Case. 

"  I  '11  show  you  then,"  said  I. 

"  We  '11  have  to  see  about  that,"  said  he. 


THE    BEACH    OF    FALESA      69 

He  was  quick  with  his  hands,  but  he  had  neither 
the  height  nor  the  weight,  being  a  flimsy  creature 
alongside  a  man  Hke  me,  and,  besides,  I  was  blaz- 
ing to  that  height  of  wrath  that  I  could  have  bit 
into  a  chisel.  I  gave  him  first  the  one  and  then 
the  other,  so  that  I  could  hear  his  head  rattle  and 
crack,  and  he  went  down  straight. 

"Have  you  had  enough?"  cries  I.  But  he 
only  looked  up  white  and  blank,  and  the  blood 
spread  upon  his  face  like  w^ne  upon  a  napkin. 
"  Have  you  had  enough?  "  I  cried  again.  "  Speak 
up,  and  don't  lie  malingering  there,  or  I  '11  take 
my  feet  to  you." 

He  sat  up  at  that,  and  held  his  head  —  by  the 
look  of  him  you  could  see  it  was  spinning  —  and 
the  blood  poured  on  his  pajamas. 

"  I  've  had  enough  for  this  time,"  says  he,  and 
he  got  up  staggering,  and  went  off  by  the  way 
that  he  had  come. 

The  boat  was  close  in;  I  saw  the  missionary 
had  laid  his  book  to  one  side,  and  I  smiled  to 
myself.  "  He  '11  know  I  'm  a  man,  anyway," 
thinks  I. 


70  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

This  was  the  first  time,  in  all  my  years  in  the 
Pacific,  I  had  ever  exchanged  two  words  with 
any  missionary,  let  alone  asked  one  for  a  favour. 
I  did  n't  like  the  lot,  no  trader  does ;  they  look 
down  upon  us,  and  make  no  concealment;  and, 
besides,  they  're  partly  Kanakaised,  and  suck  up 
with  natives  instead  of  with  other  white  men  like 
themselves.  I  had  on  a  rig  of  clean,  striped  pa- 
jamas —  for,  of  course,  I  had  dressed  decent  to 
go  before  the  chiefs;  but  when  I  saw  the  mission- 
ary step  out  of  his  boat  in  the  regular  uniform, 
white  duck  clothes,  pith  helmet,  white  shirt  and 
tie,  and  yellow  boots  to  his  feet,  I  could  have 
bunged  stones  at  him.  As  he  came  nearer,  queer- 
ing me  pretty  curious  (because  of  the  fight,  I  sup- 
pose), I  saw  he  looked  mortal  sick,  for  the  truth 
was  he  had  a  fever  on,  and  had  just  had  a  chill 
in  the  boat. 

"Mr.  Tarleton,  I  believe?''  says  I,  for  I  had 
got  his  name. 

"And  you,  I  suppose,  are  the  new  trader?" 
says  he, 

"  I  want  to  tell  you  first  that  I  don't  hold  with 


THE   BEACH    OF    FALESA      71 

missions,"  I  went  on,  ''  and  that  I  think  you  and 
the  Hkes  of  you  do  a  sight  of  harm,  filHng  up  the 
natives  with  old  wives'  tales  and  bumptiousness." 

"  You  are  perfectly  entitled  to  your  opinions," 
says  he,  looking  a  bit  ugly,  "  but  I  have  no  call 
to  hear  them." 

"  It  so  happens  that  you  Ve  got  to  hear  them," 
I  said.  *'  I  'm  no  missionary,  nor  missionary 
lover ;  I  'm  no  Kanaka,  nor  favourer  of  Kanakas 
—  I'm  just  a  trader;  I'm  just  a  common  low 
God-damned  white  man  and  British  subject,  the 
sort  you  would  like  to  wipe  your  boots  on.  I 
hope  that 's  plain !  " 

"  Yes,  my  man,"  said  he.  "  It 's  more  plain 
than  creditable.  When  you  are  sober,  you  '11  be 
sorry  for  this." 

He  tried  to  pass  on,  but  I  stopped  him  with  my 
hand.  The  Kanakas  were  beginning  to  growl. 
Guess  they  did  n't  like  my  tone,  for  I  spoke  to 
that  man  as   free  as  I  would  to  you. 

*'  Now,  you  can't  say  I  've  deceived  you,"  said 
I,  "  and  I  can  go  on.  I  want  a  service  —  I  want 
two  services,  in  fact;  and,  if  you  care  to  give  me 


72  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

them,  I  '11  perhaps  take  more  stock  in  what  you 
call  your  Christianity," 

He  was  silent  for  a  moment.  Then  he  smiled. 
"  You  are  rather  a  strange  sort  of  man,"  says  he. 

"  I  'm  the  sort  of  man  God  made  me,"  says  I. 
"  I  don't  set  up  to  be  a  gentleman,"  I  said. 

"  I  am  not  quite  so  sure,"  said  he.  "  And  what 
can  I  do  for  you,  Mr.  ?  " 

"  Wiltshire,"  I  says,  "  though  I  'm  mostly  called 
Welsher ;  but  Wiltshire  is  the  way  it 's  spelt,  if 
the  people  on  the  beach  could  only  get  their 
tongues  about  it.  And  what  do  I  want?  Well, 
I  '11  tell  you  the  first  thing.  I  'm  what  you  call 
a  sinner  —  what  I  call  a  sweep  —  and  I  want 
you  to  help  me  make  it  up  to  a  person  I  've 
deceived." 

He  turned  and  spoke  to  his  crew  in  the  native. 
"  And  now  I  am  at  your  service,"  said  he,  "  but 
only  for  the  time  my  crew  are  dining.  I  must  be 
much  farther  down  the  coast  before  night.  I  was 
delayed  at  Papa-malulu  till  this  morning,  and  I 
have  an  engagement  in  Fale-alii  to-morrow  night." 

I  led  the  way  to  my  house  in  silence,  and  rather 


THE    BEACH    OF    FALESA      73 

pleased  with  myself  for  the  way  I  had  managed 
the  talk,  for  I  like  a  man  to  keep  his  self-respect. 

''  I  was  sorry  to  see  you  fighting,"  says  he. 

''  Oh,  that 's  part  of  the  yarn  I  want  to  tell 
you,"  I  said.  "  That 's  service  number  two.  After 
you  've  heard  it  you  '11  let  me  know  whether  you  're 
sorry  or  not." 

We  walked  right  in  through  the  store,  and  I 
was  surprised  to  find  Uma  had  cleared  away  the 
dinner  things.  This  was  so  unlike  her  ways  that 
I  saw^  she  had  done  it  out  of  gratitude,  and  liked 
her  the  better.  She  and  Mr.  Tarleton  called  each 
other  by  name,  and  he  was  very  civil  to  her  seem- 
ingly. But  I  thought  little  of  that;  they  can  al- 
ways find  civility  for  a  Kanaka,  it 's  us  white  men 
they  lord  it  over.  Besides,  I  did  n't  want  much 
Tarleton  just  then.     I  was  going  to  do  my  pitch. 

"  Uma,"  said  I,  "  give  us  your  marriage  cer- 
tificate." She  looked  put  out.  "  Come,"  said  I, 
"  you  can  trust  me.     Hand  it  up." 

She  had  it  about  her  person,  as  usual ;  I  believe 
she  thought  it  was  a  pass  to  heaven,  and  if  she 
died  without  having  it  handy  she  would  go  to  hell. 


74  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

I  could  n't  see  where  she  put  it  the  first  time,  I 
couldn't  see  now  where  she  took  it  from;  it 
seemed  to  jump  into  her  hand  like  that  Blavatsky 
business  in  the  papers.  But  it 's  the  same  way 
with  all  island  women,  and  I  guess  they  're  taught 
it  when  young. 

"  Now,"  said  I,  with  the  certificate  in  my  hand, 
"  I  was  married  to  this  girl  by  Black  Jack,  the 
negro.  The  certificate  was  wrote  by  Case,  and 
it 's  a  dandy  piece  of  literature,  I  promise  you. 
Since  then  I  've  found  that  there 's  a  kind  of 
cry  in  the  place  against  this  wife  of  mine,  and 
so  long  as  I  keep  her  I  cannot  trade.  Now, 
what  would  any  man  do  in  my  place,  if  he 
was  a  man  ? "  I  said.  "  The  first  thing  he 
would  do  is  this,  I  guess."  And  I  took  and 
tore  up  the  certificate  and  bunged  the  pieces  on 
the  floor. 

'*Aue!"^   cried  Uma,  and  began  to  clap  her 
hands;  but  I  caught  one  of  them  in  mine. 

"  And  the  second  thing  that  he  would  do,"  said 
I,  "  if  he  was  what  I  would  call  a  man  and  you 

1  Alas. 


THE    BEACH    OF    FALESA      75 

would  call  a  man,  Mr.  Taiieton,  is  to  bring  the 
girl  right  before  you  or  any  other  missionary, 
and  to  up  and  say :  '  I  was  wrong  married  to  this 
wife  of  mine,  but  I  think  a  heap  of  her,  and 
now  I  want  to  be  married  to  her  right.'  Fire 
away,  Mr.  Tarleton.  And  I  guess  you  'd  better 
do  it  in  native;  it'll  please  the  old  lady,"  I  said, 
giving  her  the  proper  name  of  a  man's  wife  upon 
the  spot. 

So  we  had  in  two  of  the  crew  for  to  witness, 
and  were  spliced  in  our  own  house;  and  the  par- 
son prayed  a  good  bit,  I  must  say  —  but  not  so 
long  as  some  —  and  shook  hands  with  the  pair 
of  us. 

"  Mr.  Wiltshire,"  he  says,  when  he  had  made 
out  the  lines  and  packed  off  the  witnesses,  "  I 
have  to  thank  you  for  a  very  lively  pleasure.  I 
have  rarely  performed  the  marriage  ceremony  with 
more  grateful  emotions." 

That  was  what  you  would  call  talking.  He  was 
going  on,  besides,  with  more  of  it,  and  I  was 
ready  for  as  much  taffy  as  he  had  in  stock,  for 
I  felt  good.     But  Uma  had  been  taken  up  with 


76  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

something   half   through    the   marriage,    and   cut 
straight  in. 

"  How  your  hand  he  get  hurt?  "  she  asked. 

"  You  ask  Case's  head,  old  lady,"  says  I. 

She  jumped  with  joy,  and  sang  out. 

"  You  have  n't  made  much  of  a  Christian  of 
this  one,"  says  I  to  Mr.  Tarleton. 

"  We  did  n't  think  her  one  of  our  worst,"  says 
he,  "  when  she  was  at  Fale-alii ;  and  if  Uma  bears 
malice  I  shall  be  tempted  to  fancy  she  has  good 
cause." 

"  Well,  there  we  are  at  service  number  two," 
said  I.  "  I  want  to  tell  you  our  yarn,  and  see  if 
you  can  let  a  little  daylight  in." 

"Is  it  long?"  he  asked. 

"  Yes,"  I  cried ;  "  it 's  a  goodish  bit  of  a  yarn !  " 

"  Well,  I  '11  give  you  all  the  time  I  can  spare," 
says  he,  looking  at  his  watch.  "  But  I  must  tell 
you  fairly,  I  have  n't  eaten  since  five  this  morning, 
and,  unless  you  can  let  me  have  something,  I  am 
not  likely  to  eat  again  before  seven  or  eight  to- 
night." 

"  By  God,  we  '11  give  you  dinner !  "  I  cried. 


THE    BEACH    OF    FALESA      77 

I  was  a  little  caught  up  at  my  swearing,  just 
when  all  was  going  straight;  and  so  was  the  mis- 
sionary, I  suppose,  but  he  made  believe  to  look 
out  of  the  window,  and  thanked  us. 

So  we  ran  him  up  a  bit  of  a  meal.  I  was  bound 
to  let  the  old  lady  have  a  hand  in  it,  to  show 
off,  so  I  deputised  her  to  brew  the  tea.  I  don't 
think  I  ever  met  such  tea  as  she  turned  out.  But 
that  was  not  the  worst,  for  she  got  round  with 
the  salt-box,  which  she  considered  an  extra  Euro- 
pean touch,  and  turned  my  stew  into  sea-water. 
Altogether,  Mr.  Tarleton  had  a  devil  of  a  dinner 
of  it;  but  he  had  plenty  of  entertainment  by  the 
way,  for  all  the  while  that  we  were  cooking,  and 
afterward,  when  he  was  making  believe  to  eat,  I 
kept  posting  him  up  on  Master  Case  and  the  beach 
of  Falesa,  and  he  putting  questions  that  showed 
he  was  following  close. 

"  Well,"  said  he  at  last,  "  I  am  afraid  you  have 
a  dangerous  enemy.  This  man  Case  is  very 
clever  and  seems  really  wicked.  I  must  tell  you 
I  have  had  my  eye  on  him  for  nearly  a  year, 
and  have  rather  had  the  worst  of  our  encounters. 


78  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

About  the  time  when  the  last  representative  of 
your  firm  ran  so  suddenly  away,  I  had  a  letter 
from  Namu,  the  native  pastor,  begging  me  to 
come  to  Falesa  at  my  earliest  convenience,  as  his 
flock  were  all  '  adopting  CathoHc  practices.'  I  had 
great  confidence  in  Namu;  I  fear  it  only  shows 
how  easily  we  are  deceived.  No  one  could  hear 
him  preach  and  not  be  persuaded  he  was  a  man 
of  extraordinary  parts.  All  our  islanders  easily 
acquire  a  kind  of  eloquence,  and  can  roll  out  and 
illustrate,  with  a  great  deal  of  vigour  and  fancy, 
second-hand  sermons;  but  Namu's  sermons  are 
his  own,  and  I  cannot  deny  that  I  have  found 
them  means  of  grace.  Moreover,  he  has  a  keen 
curiosity  in  secular  things,  does  not  fear  work, 
is  clever  at  carpentering,  and  has  made  himself 
so  much  respected  among  the  neighbouring  pas- 
tors that  we  call  him,  in  a  jest  which  is  half  seri- 
ous, the  Bishop  of  the  East.  In  short,  I  was 
proud  of  the  man;  all  the  more  puzzled  by  his 
letter,  and  took  an  occasion  to  come  this  way. 
The  morning  before  my  arrival,  Vigours  had  been 
sent  on  board  the  Lion,  and  Namu  was  perfectly 


THE    BEACH    OF    FALESA      79 

at  his  ease,  apparently  ashamed  of  his  letter,  and 
quite  unwilling  to  explain  it.  This,  of  course,  I 
could  not  allow,  and  he  ended  by  confessing  that 
he  had  been  much  concerned  to  find  his  people 
using  the  sign  of  the  cross,  but  since  he  had 
learned  the  explanation  his  mind  was  satisfied. 
For  Vigours  had  the  Evil  Eye,  a  common  thing 
in  a  country  of  Europe  called  Italy,  where  men 
were  often  struck  dead  by  that  kind  of  devil,  and 
it  appeared  the  sign  of  the  cross  was  a  charm 
against  its  power. 

"  '  And  I  explain  it,  Misi,'  said  Namu,  '  in  this 
way:  the  country  in  Europe  is  a  Popey  country, 
and  the  devil  of  the  Evil  Eye  may  be  a  Catholic 
devil,  or,  at  least,  used  to  Catholic  ways.  So  then 
I  reasoned  thus :  if  this  sign  of  the  cross  were  used 
in  a  Popey  manner  it  would  be  sinful,  but  when 
it  is  used  only  to  protect  men  from  a  devil,  which 
is  a  thing  harmless  in  itself,  the  sign  too  must  be 
harmless.  For  the  sign  is  neither  good  nor  bad. 
But  if  the  bottle  be  full  of  gin,  the  gin  is  bad ; 
and  if  the  sign  made  in  idolatry  be  bad,  so^.is 
the   idolatry.'      And,    very    like    a    native   pastoi, 


8o  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

he  had  a  text  apposite  about  the  casting  out  of 
devils. 

"  '  And  who  has  been  telHng  you  about  the  Evil 
Eye  ?  '  I  asked. 

"  He  admitted  it  was  Case.  Now,  I  am  afraid 
you  will  think  me  very  narrow,  Mr.  Wiltshire,  but 
I  must  tell  you  I  was  displeased,  and  cannot  think 
a  trader  at  all  a  good  man  to  advise  or  have  an 
influence  upon  my  pastors.  And,  besides,  there 
had  been  some  flying  talk  in  the  country  of  old 
Adams  and  his  being  poisoned,  to  which  I  had 
paid  no  great  heed;  but  it  came  back  to  me  at 
the  moment. 

"  *  And  is  this  Case  a  man  of  a  sanctified  life? ' 
I  asked. 

"  He  admitted  he  was  not ;  for,  though  he  did 
not  drink,  he  was  profligate  with  women,  and  had 
no  religion. 

"  '  Then,'  said  I,  '  I  think  the  less  you  have  to 
do  with  him  the  better.' 

"  But  it  is  not  easy  to  have  the  last  word  with 
a  man  like  Namu.  He  was  ready  in  a  moment 
with  an  illustration.     *  Misi,'  said  he,  '  you  have 


THE    BEACH    OF    FALESA      8i 

told  me  there  were  wise  men,  not  pastors,  not  even 
holy,  who  knew  many  things  useful  to  be  taught 
—  about  trees,  for  instance,  and  beasts,  and  to 
print  books,  and  about  the  stones  that  are  burned 
to  make  knives  of.  Such  men  teach  you  in  your 
college,  and  you  learn  from  them,  but  take  care 
not  to  learn  to  be  unholy.  Misi,  Case  is  my  college.' 
"  I  knew  not  w^hat  to  say.  Mr.  Vigours  had 
evidently  been  driven  out  of  Falesa  by  the  machi- 
nations of  Case  and  with  something  not  very  un- 
like the  collusion  of  my  pastor.  I  called  to  mind 
it  was  Namu  who  had  reassured  me  about  Adams 
and  traced  the  rumour  to  the  ill-will  of  the  priest. 
And  I  saw  I  must  inform  myself  more  thoroughly 
from  an  impartial  source.  There  is  an  old  rascal 
of  a  chief  here,  Faiaso,  whom  I  dare  say  you 
saw  to-day  at  the  council;  he  has  been  all  his  life 
turbulent  and  shy,  a  great  fomenter  of  rebellions, 
and  a  thorn  in  the  side  of  the  mission  and  the 
island.  For  all  that  he  is  very  shrewd,  and,  ex- 
cept in  politics  or  about  his  own  misdemeanours, 
a  teller  of  the  truth.     I  went  to  his  house,  told 

him  what  I  had  heard,  and  besought  him  to  be 

6 


82  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

frank.  I  do  not  think  I  had  ever  a  more  painful 
interview.  Perhaps  you  will  understand  me,  Mr. 
Wiltshire,  if  I  tell  you  that  I  am  perfectly  serious 
in  these  old  wives'  tales  with  which  you  reproached 
me,  and  as  anxious  to  do  well  for  these  islands 
as  you  can  be  to  please  and  to  protect  your  pretty 
wife.  And  you  are  to  remember  that  I  thought 
Namu  a  paragon,  and  was  proud  of  the  man  as 
one  of  the  first  ripe  fruits  of  the  mission.  And 
now  I  was  informed  that  he  had  fallen  in  a  sort 
of  dependence  upon  Case.  The  beginning  of  it 
was  not  corrupt;  it  began,  doubtless,  in  fear  and 
respect,  produced  by  trickery  and  pretence;  but 
I  was  shocked  to  find  that  another  element  had 
been  lately  added,  that  Namu  helped  himself  in 
the  store,  and  was  believed  to  be  deep  in  Case's 
debt.  Whatever  the  trader  said,  that  Namu  be- 
lieved with  trembling.  He  was  not  alone  in  this; 
many  in  the  village  lived  in  a  similar  subjection; 
but  Namu's  case  was  the  most  influential,  it 
was  through  Namu  that  Case  had  wrought  most 
evil;  and  with  a  certain  following  among  the 
chiefs,  and  the  pastor  in  his  pocket,  the  man  was 


THE    BEACH    OF   FALESA      83 

as  good  as  master  of  the  village.  You  know 
something  of  Vigours  and  Adams,  but  perhaps 
you  have  never  heard  of  old  Underhill,  Adams's 
predecessor.  He  was  a  quiet,  mild  old  fellow,  I 
remember,  and  we  were  told  he  had  died  suddenly : 
white  men  die  very  suddenly  in  Falesa.  The 
truth,  as  I  now  heard  it,  made  my  blood  run  cold. 
It  seems  he  was  struck  with  a  general  palsy,  all 
of  him  dead  but  one  eye,  which  he  continually 
winked.  Word  was  started  that  the  helpless  old 
man  was  now  a  devil,  and  this  vile  fellow  Case 
worked  upon  the  natives'  fears,  which  he  professed 
to  share,  and  pretended  he  durst  not  go  into  the 
house  alone.  At  last  a  grave  was  dug,  and  the 
living  body  buried  at  the  far  end  of  the  village. 
Namu,  my  pastor,  whom  I  had  helped  to  educate, 
offered  up  a  prayer  at  the  hateful  scene. 

"  I  felt  myself  in  a  very  difficult  position.  Per- 
haps it  was  my  duty  to  have  denounced  Namu 
and  had  him  deposed.  Perhaps  I  think  so  now, 
but  at  the  time  it  seemed  less  clear.  He  had  a 
great  influence,  it  might  prove  greater  than  mine. 
The  natives  are  prone  to  superstition;  perhaps  by 


84  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

stirring  them  up  I  might  but  ingrain  and  spread 
these  dangerous  fancies.  And  Namu  besides, 
apart  from  this  novel  and  accursed  influence,  was 
a  good  pastor,  an  able  man,  and  spiritually  minded. 
Where  should  I  look  for  a  better?  How  was  T 
to  find  as  good?  At  that  moment,  with  Namu's 
failure  fresh  in  my  view,  the  work  of  my  life  ap- 
peared a  mockery ;  hope  was  dead  in  me.  I  would 
rather  repair  such  tools  as  I  had  than  go  abroad 
in  quest  of  others  that  must  certainly  prove  worse ; 
and  a  scandal  is,  at  the  best,  a  thing  to  be  avoided 
when  humanly  possible.  Right  or  wrong,  then, 
I  determined  on  a  quiet  course.  All  that  night 
I  denounced  and  reasoned  with  the  erring  pastor, 
twitted  him  with  his  ignorance  and  want  of  faith, 
twitted  him  with  his  wretched  attitude,  making 
clean  the  outside  of  the  cup  and  platter,  callously 
helping  at  a  murder,  childishly  flying  in  excite- 
ment about  a  few  childish,  unnecessary,  and  in- 
convenient gestures;  and  long  before  day  I  had 
him  on  his  knees  and  bathed  in  the  tears  of  what 
seemed  a  genuine  repentance.  On  Sunday  I  took 
tlie  pulpit  in  the  morning,  and  preached  from  First 


THE    BEACH    OF    FALESA      85 

Kings,  nineteenth,  on  the  fire,  the  earthquake,  and 
the  voice,  distinguishing  the  true  spiritual  power, 
and  referring  with  such  plainness  as  I  dared  to 
recent  events  in  Falesa.  The  effect  produced  was 
great,  and  it  was  much  increased  when  Namu  rose 
in  his  turn  and  confessed  that  he  had  been  wanting 
in  faith  and  conduct,  and  was  convinced  of  sin. 
So  far,  then,  all  was  well ;  but  there  was  one 
unfortunate  circumstance.  It  was  nearing  the 
time  of  our  '  May  '  in  the  island,  when  the  native 
contributions  to  the  missions  are  received;  it  fell 
in  my  duty  to  make  a  notification  on  the  subject, 
and  this  gave  my  enemy  his  chance,  by  which  he 
was  not  slow  to  profit. 

"  News  of  the  whole  proceedings  must  have 
been  carried  to  Case  as  soon  as  church  was  over, 
and  the  same  afternoon  he  made  an  occasion  to 
meet  me  in  the  midst  of  the  village.  He  came 
up  with  so  much  intentness  and  animosity  that  I 
felt  it  would  be  damaging  to  avoid  him. 

"  *  So,'  says  he,  in  native,  *  here  is  the  holy  man. 
He  has  been  preaching  against  me,  but  that  was 
not  in  his  heart.     He  has  been  preaching  upon  the 


86  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

love  of  God;  but  that  was  not  in  his  heart,  it  \::\s 
between  his  teeth.  Will  you  know  what  was  m 
his  heart  ?  '  cries  he.  '  I  will  show  it  to  you ! ' 
And,  making  a  snatch  at  my  head,  he  made  be- 
lieve to  pluck  out  a  dollar,  and  held  it  in  the 
air. 

"  There  went  that  rumour  through  the  crowd 
with  which  Polynesians  receive  a  prodigy.  As 
for  myself,  I  stood  amazed.  The  thing  was  a  com- 
mon conjuring  trick  which  I  have  seen  performed 
at  home  a  score  of  times;  but  how  was  I  to 
convince  the  villagers  of  that?  I  wished  I  had 
learned  legerdemain  instead  of  Hebrew,  that  I 
might  have  paid  the  fellow  out  with  his  own 
coin.  But  there  I  was;  I  could  not  stand  there 
silent,  and  the  best  I  could  find  to  say  was  weak. 

" '  I  will  trouble  you  not  to  lay  hands  on  me 
again,'  said  I. 

"  *  I  have  no  such  thought,'  said  he,  *  nor  will 
I  deprive  you  of  your  dollar.  Here  it  is,'  he  said, 
and  flung  it  at  my  feet.  I  am  told  it  lay  where 
it  fell  three  days." 

"  I  must  say  it  was  well  played,"  said  I. 


THE    BEACH    OF    FALESA      87 

*'0h!  he  is  clever,"  said  Mr.  Tarleton,  "and 
you  can  now  see  for  yourself  how  dangerous.  He 
was  a  party  to  the  horrid  death  of  the  paralytic; 
he  is  accused  of  poisoning  Adams;  he  drove 
Vigours  out  of  the  place  by  lies  that  might  have 
led  to  murder ;  and  there  is  no  question  but  he  has 
now  made  up  his  mind  to  rid  himself  of  you.  How 
he  means  to  try  we  have  no  guess;  only  be  sure, 
it 's  something  new.  There  is  no  end  to  his  readi- 
ness and  invention." 

"  He  gives  himself  a  sight  of  trouble,"  says  I. 
*'  And  after  all,  what  for  ?  " 

"  Why,  how  many  tons  of  copra  may  they  make 
in  this  district  ?  "  asked  the  missionary. 

"  I  dare  say  as  much  as  sixty  tons,"  says  I. 

"  And  what  is  the  profit  to  the  local  trader  ?  " 
he  asked. 

"  You  may  call  it  three  pounds,"  said  I. 

''  Then  you  can  reckon  for  yourself  how  much 
he  does  it  for,"  said  Mr.  Tarleton.  "  But  the  more 
important  thing  is  to  defeat  him.  It  is  clear  he 
spread  some  report  against  Uma,  in  order  to  iso- 
late and  have  his  wicked  will  of  her.     Failing  of 


88  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

that,  and  seeing  a  new  rival  come  upon  the  scene, 
he  used  her  in  a  different  way.  Now,  the  first 
point  to  find  out  is  about  Namu.  Uma,  when 
people  began  to  leave  you  and  your  mother  alone, 
what  did  Namu  do  ?  " 

"  Stop  away  all-a-same,"  says  Uma. 

"  I  fear  the  dog  has  returned  to  his  vomit," 
said  Mr.  Tarleton.  "  And  now  what  am  I  to  do 
for  you?  I  will  speak  to  Namu,  I  will  warn  him 
he  is  observed;  it  will  be  strange  if  he  allow  any- 
thing to  go  on  amiss  when  he  is  put  upon  his 
guard.  At  the  same  time,  this  precaution  may 
fail,  and  then  you  must  turn  elsewhere.  You  have 
two  people  at  hand  to  whom  you  might  apply. 
There  is,  first  of  all,  the  priest,  who  might  protect 
you  by  the  Catholic  interest ;  they  are  a  wretchedly 
small  body,  but  they  count  two  chiefs.  And  then 
there  is  old  Faiaso.  Ah!  if  it  had  been  some 
years  ago  you  would  have  needed  no  one  else; 
but  his  influence  is  much  reduced,  it  has  gone  into 
Maea's  hands,  and  Maea,  I  fear,  is  one  of  Case's 
jackals.  In  fine,  if  the  worst  comes  to  the  worst, 
you  must  send  up  or  come  yourself  to  Fale-alii, 


THE    BEACH    OF    FALESA      89 

and,  though  I  am  not  due  at  this  end  of  the  island 
for  a  month,  I  will  just  see  what  can  be  done." 

So  Mr.  Tarleton  said  farewell ;  and  half  an  hour 
later  the  crew  were  singing  and  the  paddles  flash- 
ing in  the  missionary  boat. 


CHAPTER   IV 

DEVIL-WORK 

NEAR  a  month  went  by  without  much 
doing.  The  same  night  of  our  mar- 
riage Galoshes  called  round,  and  made 
himself  mighty  civil,  and  got  into  a  habit  of  drop- 
ping in  about  dark  and  smoking  his  pipe  with  the 
family.  He  could  talk  to  Uma,  of  course,  and 
started  to  teach  me  native  and  French  at  the  same 
time.  He  was  a  kind  old  buffer,  though  the  dirti- 
est you  would  wish  to  see,  and  he  muddled  me 
up  with  foreign  languages  worse  than  the  Tower 
of  Babel. 

That  was  one  employment  we  had,  and  it  made 
me  feel  less  lonesome;  but  there  was  no  profit  in 
the  thing,  for  though  the  priest  came  and  sat  and 
yarned,  none  of  his  folks  could  be  enticed  into  my 
store,  and  if  it  had  n't  been  for  the  other  occu- 
pation I  struck  out,  there  would  n't  have  been  a 


THE    BEACH    OF    FALESA      91 

pound  of  copra  in  the  house.  This  was  the  idea: 
Faavao  (Una's  mother)  had  a  score  of  bearing- 
trees.  Of  course  we  could  get  no  labour,  being 
all  as  good  as  tabooed,  and  the  two  women  and 
I  turned  to  and  made  copra  with  our  own  hands. 
It  was  copra  to  make  your  mouth  water  when  it 
was  done  —  I  never  understood  how  much  the 
natives  cheated  me  till  I  had  made  that  four  hun- 
dred pounds  of  rny  own  hand  —  and  it  weighed 
so  light  I  felt  inclined  to  take  and  water  it  myself. 

When  we  were  at  the  job  a  good  many  Kana- 
kas used  to  put  in  the  best  of  the  day  looking  on, 
and  once  that  nigger  turned  up.  He  stood  back 
with  the  natives  and  laughed  and  did  the  big  don 
and  the  funny  dog,  till  I  began  to  get  riled. 

"  Here,  you  nigger !  "  says  I. 

"  I  don't  address  myself  to  you,  Sah,"  says  the 
nigger.     "  Only  speak  to  gen'le'um." 

"  I  know,"  says  I,  "  but  it  happens  I  was  ad- 
dressing myself  to  you,  Mr.  Black  Jack.  And 
all  I  want  to  know  is  just  this:  did  you  see 
Case's  figure-head  about  a  week  ago  ?  " 

"  No,  Sah,"  says  he. 


92  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

"  That 's  all  right,  then,"  says  I ;  "  for  I  '11  show 
you  the  own  brother  to  it,  only  black,  in  the  in- 
side of  about  two  minutes." 

And  I  began  to  walk  toward  him,  quite  slow, 
and  my  hands  down;  only  there  was  trouble  in 
my  eye,  if  anybody  took  the  pains  to  look. 

"  You  're  a  low,  obstropulous  fellow,  Sah," 
says  he. 

"You  bet!"  says  I. 

By  that  time  he  thought  I  was  about  as  near 
as  convenient,  and  lit  out  so  it  would  have  done 
your  heart  good  to  see  him  travel.  And  that  was 
all  I  saw  of  that  precious  gang  until  what  I  am 
about  to  tell  you. 

It  was  one  of  my  chief  employments  these  days 
to  go  pot-hunting  in  the  woods,  which  I  found 
(as  Case  had  told  me)  very  rich  in  game.  I 
have  spoken  of  the  cape  which  shut  up  the  vil- 
lage and  my  station  from  the  east.  A  path  went 
about  the  end  of  it,  and  led  into  the  next  bay. 
A  strong  wind  blew  here  daily,  and  as  the  line 
of  the  barrier  reef  stopped  at  the  end  of  the  cape, 
a  heavy  surf  ran  on  the  shores  of  the  bay.     A 


THE    BEACH    OF    FALESA      93 

little  cliffy  hill  cut  the  valley  in  two  parts,  and 
stood  close  on  the  beach;  and  at  high  water  the 
sea  broke  right  on  the  face  of  it,  so  that  all  pas- 
sage was  stopped.  Woody  mountains  hemmed 
the  place  all  round ;  the  barrier  to  the  east  was 
particularly  steep  and  leafy,  the  lower  parts  of 
it,  along  the  sea,  falling  in  sheer  black  cliffs 
streaked  with  cinnabar;  the  upper  part  lumpy 
wnth  the  tops  of  the  great  trees.  Some  of  the 
trees  were  bright  green,  and  some  red,  and  the 
sand  of  the  beach  as  black  as  your  shoes.  Many 
birds  hovered  round  the  bay,  some  of  them  snow- 
white;  and  the  flying- fox  (or  vampire)  flew  there 
in  broad  daylight,  gnashing  its  teeth. 

For  a  long  while  I  came  as  far  as  this  shoot- 
ing, and  went  no  farther.  There  was  no  sign  of 
any  path  beyond,  and  the  cocoa-palms  in  the  front 
of  the  foot  of  the  valley  were  the  last  this  way. 
For  the  whole  "  eye "  of  the  island,  as  natives 
call  the  windward  end,  lay  desert.  From  Falesa 
round  about  to  Papa-malulu,  there  was  neither 
house,  nor  man,  nor  planted  fruit-tree;  and  the 
reef  being  mostly  absent,  and  the  shores  bluff,  the 


94  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

sea  beat  direct  among  crags,  and  there  was  scarce 
a  landing-place. 

I  should  tell  you  that  after  I  began  to  go  in 
the  woods,  although  no  one  appeared  to  come 
near  my  store,  I  found  people  willing  enough  to 
pass  the  time  of  day  with  me  where  nobody 
could  see  them;  and  as  I  had  begun  to  pick  up 
native,  and  most  of  them  had  a  word  or  two  of 
English,  I  began  to  hold  little  odds  and  ends  of 
conversation,  not  to  much  purpose,  to  be  sure, 
but  they  took  off  the  worst  of  the  feeling,  for 
it 's  a  miserable  thing  to  be  made  a  leper  of. 

It  chanced  one  day,  toward  the  end  of  the 
month,  that  I  was  sitting  in  this  bay  in  the  edge 
of  the  bush,  looking  east,  with  a  Kanaka.  I  had 
given  him  a  fill  of  tobacco,  and  we  were  making 
out  to  talk  as  best  we  could;  indeed,  he  had 
more  English  than  most. 

I  asked  him  if  there  was  no  road  going 
eastward. 

"  One  time  one  road,"  said  he.  "  Now  he 
dead." 

"  Nobody  he  go  there  ?  "  I  asked. 


THE    BEACH    OF    FALESA      95 

"  No  good,"  said  he.  "  Too  much  devil  he  stop 
there." 

"Oho!"  says  I,  "  got-um  plenty  devil,  that 
bush?" 

"  Alan  devil,  woman  devil ;  too  much  devil/* 
said  my  friend.  "  Stop  there  all-e-time.  Man 
he  go  there,  no  come  back." 

I  thought  if  this  fellow  was  so  well  posted 
on  devils  and  spoke  of  them  so  free,  which  is 
not  common,  I  had  better  fish  for  a  little  infor- 
mation about  myself  and  Uma. 

"  You  think  me  one  devil  ?  "  I  asked. 

"  No  think  devil,"  said  he,  soothingly.  "  Think 
all-e-same  fool." 

"  Uma,  she  devil  ?  "  I  asked  again. 

"  No,  no ;  no  devil.  Devil  stop  bush,"  said  the 
young  man. 

I  was  looking  in  front  of  me  across  the  bay, 
and  I  saw  the  hanging  front  of  the  woods  pushed 
suddenly  open,  and  Case,  with  a  gun  in  his  hand, 
step  forth  into  the  sunshine  on  the  black  beach. 
He  was  got  up  in  light  pajamas,  near  white,  his 
gun  sparkled,  he  looked  mighty  conspicuous;   and 


g6  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

the  land-crabs  scuttled  from  all  around  him  to 
their  holes. 

*'  Hullo,  my  friend ! "  says  I,  "  you  no  talk 
all-e-same  true.     Ese  he  go,  he  come  back." 

"  Ese  no  all-e-same ;  Ese  Tiapolo,"  says  my 
friend;  and,  with  a  "  Good-bye,"  slunk  off  among 
the  trees. 

I  watched  Case  all  around  the  beach,  where  the 
tide  was  low;  and  let  him  pass  me  on  the  home- 
ward way  to  Falesa.  He  was  in  deep  thought, 
and  the  birds  seemed  to  know  it,  trotting  quite 
near  him  on  the  sand,  or  wheeling  and  calling 
in  his  ears.  When  he  passed  me  I  could  see  by 
the  working  of  his  lips  that  he  was  talking  to 
himself,  and  what  pleased  me  mightily,  he  had 
still  my  trade-mark  on  his  brow.  I  tell  you 
the  plain  truth:  I  had  a  mind  to  give  him  a 
gunful  in  his  ugly  mug,  but  I  thought  better 
of  it. 

All  this  time,  and  all  the  time  I  was  following 
home,  I  kept  repeating  that  native  word,  which 
I  remembered  by  "  Polly,  put  the  kettle  on  and 
make  us  all  some  tea,"  tea-a-pollo. 


THE    BEACH    OF    FALESA      97 

"  Uma/ '  says  I,  when  I  got  back,  "  what  does 
Tiapolo  mean  ?  " 

"  Devil,"  says  she. 

"  I  thought  aitu  was  the  word  for  that/'  I 
said. 

^'  Aitu  'nother  kind  of  devil,"  said  she;  "stop 
bush,  eat  Kanaka.  Tiapolo  big  chief  devil,  stop 
home;    all-e-same  Christian  devil." 

"  Well,  then,"  said  I,  ''  I  'm  no  farther  forward. 
How  can  Case  be  Tiapolo?" 

"  No  all-e-same,"  said  she.  "  Ese  belong  Tia- 
polo. Tiapolo  too  much  like;  Ese  all-e-same  his 
son.  Suppose  Ese  he  wish  something,  Tiapolo 
he  make  him." 

"  That 's  mighty  convenient  for  Ese,"  says  I. 
''  And  what  kind  of  things  does  he  make  for 
him?" 

Well,  out  came  a  rigmarole  of  all  sorts  of 
stories,  many  of  which  (like  the  dollar  he  took 
from  Mr.  Tarleton's  head)  were  plain  enough  to 
me,  but  others  I  could  make  nothing  of;  and  the 
thing  that  most  surprised  the  Kanakas  was  what 
surprised  me  least  —  namely,   that  he  would   go 


98  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

in  the  desert  among  all  the  aitus.  Some  of  the 
boldest,  however,  had  accompanied  him,  and  had 
heard  him  speak  with  the  dead  and  give  them 
orders,  and,  safe  in  his  protection,  had  returned 
unscathed.  Some  said  he  had  a  church  there, 
where  he  worshipped  Tiapolo,  and  Tiapolo  ap- 
peared to  him;  others  swore  that  there  was  no 
sorcery  at  all,  that  he  performed  his  miracles  by 
the  power  of  prayer,  and  the  church  was  no 
church,  but  a  prison,  in  which  he  had  confined 
a  dangerous  aitu.  Namu  had  been  in  the  bush 
with  him  once,  and  returned  glorifying  God  for 
these  wonders.  Altogether,  I  began  to  have  a 
glimmer  of  the  man's  position,  and  the  means 
by  which  he  had  acquired  it,  and,  though  I  saw 
he  was  a  tough  nut  to  crack,  I  was  noways  cast 
down. 

"Very  well,"  said  I,  "I'll  have  a  look  at 
Master  Case's  place  of  worship  myself,  and  we  '11 
see  about  the  glorifying." 

At  this  Uma  fell  in  a  terrible  taking;  if  I  went 
in  the  high  bush  I  should  never  return;  none 
tould  go  there  but  by  the  protection  of  Tiapolo. 


THE    BEACH    OF   FALESA      99 

"  I  '11  chance  it  on  God's,"  said  I.  "  I  'm  a 
good  sort  of  a  fellow,  Uma,  as  fellows  go,  and 
I  guess  God  '11  con  me  through." 

She  was  silent  for  awhile.  "  I  think,"  said  she, 
mighty  solemn  —  and  then,  presently  —  **  Victo- 
reea,  he  big  chief?  " 

"You  bet!"  said  I. 

"  He  like  you  too  much?  "  she  asked  again.  I 
told  her,  with  a  grin,  I  believed  the  old  lady  was 
rather  partial  to  me. 

"  All  right,"  said  she.  "  Victoreea  he  big  chief, 
like  you  too  much.  No  can  help  you  here  in 
Falesa ;  no  can  do  —  too  far  off.  Maea  he  be 
small  chief  —  stop  here.  Suppose  he  like  you  — 
make  you  all  right.  All-e-same  God  and  Tiapolo. 
God  he  big  chief  —  got  too  much  work.  Tiapolo 
he  small  chief  —  he  like  too  much  make-see,  work 
very  hard." 

"  I  '11  have  to  hand  you  over  to  Mr.  Tarleton," 
said  I.  "  Your  theology 's  out  of  its  bearings, 
Uma." 

However,  we  stuck  to  this  business  all  the 
evening,  and,  with  the  stories  she  told  me  of  the 


loo  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

desert  and  its  dangers,  she  came  near  frightening 
herself  into  a  fit.  I  don't  remember  half  a  quar- 
ter of  them,  of  course,  for  I  paid  little  heed;  but 
two  come  back  to  me  kind  of  clear. 

About  six  miles  up  the  coast  there  is  a  shel- 
tered cove  they  call  Fanga-anaana  —  "  the  haven 
full  of  caves."  I  've  seen  it  from  the  sea  myself, 
as  near  as  I  could  get  my  boys  to  venture  in; 
and  it 's  a  little  strip  of  yellow  sand,  black  cliffs 
overhang  it,  full  of  the  black  mouths  of  caves; 
great  trees  overhang  the  cliffs,  and  dangle-down 
lianas;  and  in  one  place,  about  the  middle,  a  big 
brook  pours  over  in  a  cascade.  Well,  there  was  a 
boat  going  by  here,  with  six  young  men  of  Falesa, 
"  all  very  pretty,"  Uma  said,  which  was  the  loss  of 
them.  It  blew  strong,  there  was  a  heavy  head  sea, 
and  by  the  time  they  opened  Fanga-anaana,  and 
saw  the  white  cascade  and  the  shady  beach,  they 
were  all  tired  and  thirsty,  and  their  water  had  run 
out.  One  proposed  to  land  and  get  a  drink,  and, 
being  reckless  fellows,  they  were  all  of  the  same 
mind  except  the  youngest.  Lotu  was  his  name ;  he 
was  a  very  good  young  gentleman,  and  very  wise ; 


THE    BEACH    OF    FALESA    loi 

and  he  held  out  that  they  were  crazy,  telhng  them 
the  place  was  given  over  to  spirits  and  devils  and 
the  dead,  and  there  were  no  living  folk  nearer  than 
six  miles  the  one  way,  and  maybe  twelve  the  other. 
But  they  laughed  at  his  words,  and,  being  five  to 
one,  pulled  in,  beached  the  boat,  and  landed.  It 
was  a  wonderful  pleasant  place,  Lotu  said,  and  the 
water  excellent.  They  walked  round  the  beach,  but 
could  see  nowhere  any  way  to  mount  the  cliffs, 
which  made  them  easier  in  their  mind ;  and  at  last 
they  sat  down  to  make  a  meal  on  the  food  they  had 
brought  w^ith  them.  They  were  scarce  set,  when 
there  came  out  of  the  mouth  of  one  of  the  black 
caves  six  of  the  most  beautiful  ladies  ever  seen; 
they  had  flowers  in  their  hair,  and  the  most  beau- 
tiful breasts,  and  necklaces  of  scarlet  seeds;  and 
began  to  jest  with  these  young  gentlemen,  and  the 
young  gentlemen  to  jest  back  with  them,  all  but 
Lotu.  As  for  Lotu,  he  saw  there  could  be  no  living 
w^oman  in  such  a  place,  and  ran,  and  flung  himself 
in  the  bottom  of  the  boat,  and  covered  his  face,  and 
prayed.  All  the  time  the  business  lasted  Lotu  made 
one  clean  break  of  prayer,   and  that  was  all  he 


IC2  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

knew  of  it,  until  his  friends  came  back,  and  made 
him  sit  up,  and  they  put  to  sea  again  out  of  the 
bay,  which  was  now  quite  desert,  and  no  word  of 
the  six  ladies.  But,  what  frightened  Lotu  most, 
not  one  of  the  five  remembered  anything  of  what 
had  passed,  but  they  were  all  like  drunken  men, 
and  sang  and  laughed  in  the  boat,  and  skylarked. 
The  wind  freshened  and  came  squally,  and  the 
sea  rose  extraordinary  high ;  it  was  such  weather 
as  any  man  in  the  islands  would  have  turned  his 
back  to  and  fled  home  to  Falesa;  but  these  five 
wxre  like  crazy  folk,  and  cracked  on  all  sail  and 
drove  their  boat  into  the  seas.  Lotu  went  to 
the  bailing;  none  of  the  others  thought  to  help 
him,  but  sang  and  skylarked  and  carried  on,  and 
spoke  singular  things  beyond  a  man's  compre- 
hension, and  laughed  out  loud  when  they  said 
them.  So  the  rest  of  the  day  Lotu  bailed  for 
his  life  in  the  bottom  of  the  boat,  and  was  all 
drenched  with  sweat  and  cold  sea- water;  and 
none  heeded  him.  Against  all  expectation,  they 
came  safe  in  a  dreadful  tempest  to  Papa-malulu, 
where  the  palms  were  singing  out,  and  the  cocoa- 


THE    BEACH    OF    FALESA    103 

nuts  flying  like  cannon-balls  about  the  village 
green;  and  the  same  night  the  five  young  gen- 
tlemen sickened,  and  spoke  never  a  reasonable 
word  until  they  died. 

"  And  do  you  mean  to  tell  me  you  can  swallow 
a  yarn  like  that  ?  "  I  asked. 

She  told  me  the  thing  was  well  known,  and 
with  handsome  young  men  alone  it  was  even 
common;  but  this  was  the  only  case  where  five 
had  been  slain  the  same  day  and  in  a  company 
by  the  love  of  the  women-devils;  and  it  had 
made  a  great  stir  in  the  island,  and  she  would 
be  crazy  if  she  doubted. 

''  Well,  anyway,"  says  I,  "  you  need  n't  be 
frightened  about  me.  I  've  no  use  for  the 
women-devils.  You  're  all  the  women  I  want, 
and  all  the  devil  too,  old  lady." 

To  this  she  answered  there  were  other  sorts, 
and  she  had  seen  one  with  her  own  eyes.  She 
had  gone  one  day  alone  to  the  next  bay,  and, 
perhaps,  got  too  near  the  margin  of  the  bad 
place.  The  boughs  of  the  high  bush  overshadowed 
her  from  the  cant  of  the  hill,  but  she  herself  was 


I04  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

outside  on  a  flat  place,  very  stony  and  growing 
full  of  young  mummy-apples  four  and  five  feet 
high.  It  was  a  dark  day  in  the  rainy  season,  and 
now  there  came  squalls  that  tore  off  the  leaves 
and  sent  them  flying,  and  now  it  was  all  still  as 
in  a  house.  It  was  in  one  of  these  still  times 
that  a  whole  gang  of  birds  and  flying-foxes  came 
pegging  out  of  the  bush  like  creatures  frightened. 
Presently  after  she  heard  a  rustle  nearer  hand, 
and  saw,  coming  out  of  the  margin  of  the  trees, 
among  the  mummy-apples,  the  appearance  of  a 
lean  grey  old  boar.  It  seemed  to  think  as  it 
came,  like  a  person;  and  all  of  a  sudden,  as  she 
looked  at  it  coming,  she  was  aware  it  was  no 
boar,  but  a  thing  that  was  a  man  with  a  man's 
thoughts.  At  that  she  ran,  and  the  pig  after  her, 
and  as  the  pig  ran  it  holla'd  aloud,  so  that  the 
place  rang  with  it. 

''  I  wish  I  had  been  there  with  my  gun,"  said 
I.  "  I  guess  that  pig  would  have  holla'd  so  as 
to  surprise  himself." 

But  she  told  me  a  gun  was  of  no  use  with  the 
like  of  these,  which  were  the  spirits  of  the  dead. 


THE    BEACH    OF    FALESA     105 

Well,  this  kind  of  talk  put  in  the  evening, 
which  was  the  best  of  it.  But  of  course  it  did  n't 
change  my  notion,  and  the  next  day,  with  my 
gun  and  a  good  knife,  I  set  off  upon  a  voyage 
of  discovery.  I  made,  as  near  as  I  could,  for 
the  place  where  I  had  seen  Case  come  out;  for 
if  it  was  true  he  had  some  kind  of  establishment 
in  the  bush  I  reckoned  I  should  find  a  path.  The 
beginning  of  the  desert  was  marked  off  by  a  wall, 
to  call  it  so,  for  it  was  more  of  a  long  mound  of 
stones.  They  say  it  reaches  right  across  the 
island,  but  how  they  know  it  is  another  question, 
for  I  doubt  if  any  one  has  made  the  journey  in 
a  hundred  years,  the  natives  sticking  chiefly  to 
the  sea  and  their  little  colonies  along  the  coast, 
and  that  part  being  mortal  high  and  steep  and 
full  of  cliffs.  Up  to  the  west  side  of  the  wall 
the  ground  has  been  cleared,  and  there  are  cocoa- 
palms  and  mummy-apples  and  guavas,  and  lots 
of  sensitive.  Just  across,  the  bush  begins  out- 
right; high  bush  at  that,  trees  going  up  like  the 
masts  of  ships,  and  ropes  of  liana  hanging  down 
like  a  ship's  rigging,  and  nasty  orchids  growing 


io6  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

in  the  forks  like  funguses.  The  ground  where 
there  was  no  underwood  looked  to  be  a  heap 
of  boulders.  I  saw  many  green  pigeons  which 
I  might  have  shot,  only  I  was  there  with  a 
different  idea.  A  number  of  butterflies  flopped 
up  and  down  along  the  ground  like  dead  leaves; 
sometimes  I  would  hear  a  bird  calling,  sometimes 
the  wind  overhead,  and  always  the  sea  along  the 
coast. 

But  the  queerness  of  the  place  it 's  more  difficult 
to  tell  of,  unless  to  one  who  has  been  alone  in 
the  high  bush  himself.  The  brightest  kind  of  a 
day  it  is  always  dim  down  there.  A  man  can 
see  to  the  end  of  nothing;  whichever  way  he 
looks  the  wood  shuts  up,  one  bough  folding  with 
another  like  the  fingers  of  your  hand;  and  when- 
ever he  listens  he  hears  always  something  new  — 
men  talking,  children  laughing,  the  strokes  of  an 
axe  a  far  way  ahead  of  him,  and  sometimes  a 
sort  of  a  quick,  stealthy  scurry  near  at  hand  that 
makes  him  jump  and  look  to  his  weapons.  It 's 
all  very  well  for  him  to  tell  himself  that  he 's 
alone,  bar  trees  and  birds;    he  can't  make  out  to 


THE    BEACH    OF    FALESA     107 

believe  it;  whichever  way  he  turns  the  whole 
place  seems  to  be  alive  and  looking  on.  Don't 
think  it  was  Uma's  yarns  that  put  me  out;  I 
don't  value  native  talk  a  fourpenny-piece ;  it 's 
a  thing  that 's  natural  in  the  bush,  and  that 's 
the  end  of  it. 

As  I  got  near  the  top  of  the  hill,  for  the 
ground  of  the  wood  goes  up  in  this  place  steep 
as  a  ladder,  the  wind  began  to  sound  straight 
on,  and  the  leaves  to  toss  and  switch  open  and 
let  in  the  sun.  This  suited  me  better;  it  was 
the  same  noise  all  the  time,  and  nothing  to  startle. 
Well,  I  had  got  to  a  place  where  there  was  an 
underwood  of  what  they  call  wild  cocoa-nut  — 
mighty  pretty  with  its  scarlet  fruit  —  when  there 
came  a  sound  of  singing  in  the  wind  that  I 
thought  I  had  never  heard  the  like  of.  It  was 
all  very  fine  to  tell  myself  it  was  the  branches; 
I  knew  better.  It  was  all  very  fine  to  tell  my- 
self it  was  a  bird;  I  knew  never  a  bird  that 
sang  like  that.  It  rose  and  swelled,  and  died 
away  and  swelled  again ;  and  now  I  thought  it 
was  like  some  one  weeping,   only  prettier;    and 


io8  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

now  I  thought  it  was  Hke  harps;  and  there  was 
one  thing  I  made  sure  of,  it  was  a  sight  too 
sweet  to  be  wholesome  in  a  place  like  that.  You 
may  laugh  if  you  like;  but  I  declare  I  called 
to  mind  the  six  young  ladies  that  came,  with 
their  scarlet  necklaces,  out  of  the  cave  at  Fanga- 
anaana,  and  wondered  if  they  sang  like  that.  We 
laugh  at  the  natives  and  their  superstitions;  but 
see  how  many  traders  take  them  up,  splendidly 
educated  white  men,  that  have  been  bookkeepers 
(some  of  them)  and  clerks  in  the  old  country. 
It 's  my  belief  a  superstition  grows  up  in  a  place 
like  the  different  kind  of  weeds;  and  as  I  stood 
there  and  listened  to  that  wailing  I  twittered  in 
my  shoes. 

You  may  call  me  a  coward  to  be  frightened ;  I 
thought  myself  brave  enough  to  go  on  ahead. 
But  I  went  mighty  carefully,  with  my  gun  cocked, 
spying  all  about  me  like  a  hunter,  fully  expect- 
ing to  see  a  handsome  young  woman  sitting  some- 
where in  the  bush,  and  fully  determined  (if  1 
did)  to  try  her  with  a  charge  of  duck-shot.  And 
sure  enough,   I  had  not  gone   far   when   I  met 


THE    BEACH    OF   FALESA    109 

with  a  queer  thing.  The  wind  came  on  the  top 
of  the  wood  in  a  strong  puff,  the  leaves  in  front 
of  me  burst  open,  and  I  saw  for  a  second  some- 
thing hanging  in  a  tree.  It  was  gone  in  a  wink, 
the  puff  blowing  by  and  the  leaves  closing.  I 
tell  you  the  truth:  I  had  made  up  my  mind  to 
see  an  aitu;  and  if  the  thing  had  looked  like  a 
pig  or  a  woman,  it  would  n't  have  given  me  the 
same  turn.  The  trouble  was  that  it  seemed  kind 
of  square,  and  the  idea  of  a  square  thing  that 
was  alive  and  sang  knocked  me  sick  and  silly. 
I  must  have  stood  quite  awhile;  and  I  made 
pretty  certain  it  was  right  out  of  the  same  tree 
that  the  singing  came.  Then  I  began  to  come 
to  myself  a  bit. 

"Well,"  says  I,  "if  this  is  really  so,  if  this 
is  a  place  where  there  are  square  things  that 
sing,  I  'm  gone  up  anyway.  Let  *s  have  my  fun 
for  my  money." 

But  I  thought  I  might  as  well  take  the  off- 
chance  of  a  prayer  being  any  good ;  so  I  plumped 
on  my  knees  and  prayed  out  loud;  and  all  the 
time  T  was  praying  the  strange  sounds  came  out 


no  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

of  the  tree,  and  went  up  and  down,  and  changed, 
for  all  the  world  like  music,  only  you  could  see 
it  was  n't  human  —  there  was  nothing  there  that 
you  could  whistle. 

As  soon  as  I  had  made  an  end  in  proper  style, 
I  laid  down  my  gun,  stuck  my  knife  between  my 
teeth,  walked  right  up  to  that  tree  and  began  to 
climb.  I  tell  you  my  heart  was  like  ice.  But 
presently,  as  I  went  up,  I  caught  another  glimpse 
of  the  thing,  and  that  relieved  me,  for  I  thought 
it  seemed  like  a  box;  and  when  I  had  got  right 
up  to  it  I  near  fell  out  of  the  tree  with  laughing. 

A  box  it  was,  sure  enough,  and  a  candle-box 
at  that,  with  the  brand  upon  the  side  of  it;  and 
it  had  banjo-strings  stretched  so  as  to  sound  when 
the  wind  blew.  I  believe  they  call  the  thing  a 
Tyrolean  ^  harp,  whatever  that  may  mean. 

"  Well,  Mr.  Case,"  said  I,  "  you  frightened  me 
once,  but  I  defy  you  to  frighten  me  again,"  I 
says,  and  slipped  down  the  tree,  and  set  out  again 
to  find  my  enemy's  head  office,  which  I  guessed 
would  not  be  far  away. 

1  ^olian.. 


THE    BEACH    OF    FALESA    iii 

The  undergrowth  was  thick  in  this  part;  I 
could  n't  see  before  my  nose,  and  must  burst  my 
way  through  by  main  force  and  ply  the  knife  as 
I  went,  slicing  the  cords  of  the  lianas  and  slash- 
ing down  whole  trees  at  a  blow.  I  call  them 
trees  for  the  bigness,  but  in  truth  they  were  just 
big  weeds,  and  sappy  to  cut  through  like  carrot. 
From  all  this  crowd  and  kind  of  vegetation,  I 
w^as  just  thinking  to  myself,  the  place  might  have 
once  been  cleared,  when  I  came  on  my  nose  over 
a  pile  of  stones,  and  saw  in  a  moment  it  was 
some  kind  of  a  work  of  man.  The  Lord  knows 
when  it  was  made  or  when  deserted,  for  this  part 
of  the  island  has  lain  undisturbed  since  long  be- 
fore the  whites  came.  A  few  steps  beyond  I  hit 
into  the  path  I  had  been  always  looking  for.  It 
was  narrow,  but  well  beaten,  and  I  saw  that  Case 
had  plenty  of  disciples.  It  seems,  indeed  it  was, 
a  piece  of  fashionable  boldness  to  venture  up  here 
with  the  trader,  and  a  young  man  scarce  reck- 
oned himself  grown  till  he  had  got  his  breech 
tattooed,  for  one  thing,  and  seen  Case's  devils  for 
another.     This  is  mighty  like  Kanakas:    but,   if 


112  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

you  look  at  it  another  way,  it 's  mighty  Hke  white 
folks  too. 

A  bit  along  the  path  I  was  brought  to  a  clear 
stand,  and  had  to  rub  my  eyes.  There  was  a 
wall  in  front  of  me,  the  path  passing  it  by  a 
gap;  it  was  tumbledown  and  plainly  very  old, 
but  built  of  big  stones  very  well  laid;  and  there 
is  no  native  alive  to-day  upon  that  island  that 
could  dream  of  such  a  piece  of  building!  Along 
all  the  top  of  it  was  a  line  of  queer  figures,  idols 
or  scarecrows,  or  what  not.  They  had  carved 
and  painted  faces  ugly  to  view,  their  eyes  and 
teeth  were  of  shell,  their  hair  and  their  bright 
clothes  blew  in  the  wind,  and  some  of  them 
worked  with  the  tugging.  There  are  islands  up 
west  where  they  make  these  kind  of  figures  till 
to-day;  but  if  ever  they  were  made  in  this 
island,  the  practice  and  the  very  recollection  of 
it  are  now  long  forgotten.  And  the  singular 
thing  was  that  all  these  bogies  were  as  fresh  as 
toys  out  of  a  shop. 

Then  it  came  in  my  mind  that  Case  had  let 
out  to  me  the  first  day  that  he  was  a  good  forger 


THE    BEACH    OF    FALESA     113 

of  island  curiosities  —  a  thing  by  which  so  many 
traders  turn  an  honest  penny.  And  with  that  1 
saw  the  whole  business,  and  how  this  display 
served  the  man  a  double  purpose:  first  of  all, 
to  season  his  curiosities,  and  then  to  frighten 
those  that  came  to  visit  him. 

But  I  should  tell  you  (what  made  the  thing 
more  curious)  that  all  the  time  the  Tyrolean  harps 
were  harping  round  me  in  the  trees,  and  even 
while  I  looked,  a  green-and-yellow  bird  (that, 
I  suppose,  was  building)  began  to  tear  the  hair 
off  the  head  of  one  of  the  figures. 

A  little  farther  on  I  found  the  best  curiosity 
of  the  museum.  The  first  I  saw  of  it  was  a  long- 
ish  mound  of  earth  with  a  twist  to  it.  Digging 
off  the  earth  with  my  hands,  I  found  underneath 
tarpaulin  stretched  on  boards,  so  that  this  was 
plainly  the  roof  of  a  cellar.  It  stood  right  on 
the  top  of  the  hill,  and  the  entrance  was  on  the 
far  side,  between  two  rocks,  like  the  entrance  to 
a  cave.  I  went  as  far  in  as  the  bend,  and,  looking 
round  the  corner,  saw  a  shining  face.  It  was  big 
and  ugly,  like  a  pantomime  mask,  and  the  bright- 


114  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

ness  of  it  waxed  and  dwindled,  and  at  times  it 
smoked. 

"  Oho !  "  says  I,  "  luminous  paint !  " 
And  I  must  say  I  rather  admired  the  man's  in- 
genuity. With  a  box  of  tools  and  a  few  mighty 
simple  contrivances  he  had  made  out  to  have  a 
devil  of  a  temple.  Any  poor  Kanaka  brought  up 
here  in  the  dark,  with  the  harps  whining  all  round 
him,  and  shown  that  smoking  face  in  the  bottom  of 
a  hole,  would  make  no  kind  of  doubt  but  he  had 
seen  and  heard  enough  devils  for  a  lifetime.  It 's 
easy  to  find  out  what  Kanakas  think.  Just  go 
back  to  your  self  anyway  around  from  ten  to 
fifteen  years  old,  and  there  's  an  average  Kanaka. 
There  are  some  pious,  just  as  there  are  pious  boys ; 
and  the  most  of  them,  like  the  boys  again,  are 
middling  honest  and  yet  think  it  rather  larks  to 
steal,  and  are  easy  scared,  and  rather  like  to  be 
so.  I  remember  a  boy  I  was  at  school  with  at 
home  who  played  the  Case  business.  He  did  n't 
know  anything,  that  boy ;  he  could  n't  do  anything ; 
he  had  no  luminous  paint  and  no  Tyrolean  harps; 
he  just  boldly  said  he  was  a  sorcerer,  and  fright- 


THE    BEACH    OF    FALESA     115 

ened  us  out  of  our  boots,  and  we  loved  it.  And 
then  it  came  in  my  mind  how  the  master  had  once 
flogged  that  boy,  and  the  surprise  we  were  all  in 
to  see  the  sorcerer  catch  it  and  hum  like  anybody 
else.  Thinks  I  to  myself:  "I  must  find  some 
way  of  fixing  it  so  for  Master  Case."  And  the 
next  moment  I  had  my  idea. 

I  went  back  by  the  path,  which,  when  once 
you  had  found  it,  was  quite  plain  and  easy  walk- 
ing; and  when  I  stepped  out  on  the  black  sands, 
who  should  I  see  but  Master  Case  himself?  I 
cocked  my  gun  and  held  it  handy,  and  we  marched 
up  and  passed  without  a  word,  each  keeping  the 
tail  of  his  eye  on  the  other;  and  no  sooner  had 
we  passed  than  we  each  wheeled  round  like  fel- 
low^s  drilling,  and  stood  face  to  face.  We  had 
each  taken  the  same  notion  in  his  head,  you  see, 
that  the  other  fellow  might  give  him  the  load  of 
his  gun  in  the  stern. 

"  You  Ve   shot  nothing,"   says   Case. 

"  I  'm  not  on  the  shoot  to-day,"  said  I. 

"  Well,  the  devil  go  with  you  for  me,"  says  he. 

"  The  same  to  you,"  says  I. 


fi6  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

But  we  stuck  just  the  way  we  VN^ere;  no  fear  of 
either  of  us  moving. 

Case  laughed.  "  We  can't  stop  here  all  day, 
though,"  said  he. 

"  Don't  let  me  detain  you,"  says  I. 

He  laughed  again.  "  Look  here,  Wiltshire,  do 
you  think  me  a  fool  ?  "  he  asked. 

"  More  of  a  knave,  if  you  want  to  know," 
says  I. 

"  Well,  do  you  think  it  would  better  me  to 
shoot  you  here,  on  this  open  beach  ? "  said  he. 
"  Because  I  don't.  Folks  come  fishing  every  day. 
There  may  be  a  score  of  them  up  the  valley  now, 
making  copra;  there  might  be  half  a  dozen  on 
the  hill  behind  you,  after  pigeons;  they  might  be 
watching  us  this  minute,  and  I  should  n't  won- 
der. I  give  you  my  word  I  don't  want  to  shoot 
you.  Why  should  I?  You  don't  hinder  me  any. 
You  have  n't  got  one  pound  of  copra  but  what 
you  made  with  your  own  hands,  like  a  negro 
slave.  You  're  vegetating  —  that 's  what  I  call  it 
—  and  I  don't  care  where  you  vegetate,  nor  yet 
how  long.     Give  me  your  word  you  don't  mean 


THE    BEACH    OF    FALESA    117 

to  shoot  me,  and  I  '11  give  you  a  lead  and  walk 
away." 

"  Well,"  said  I,  "  you  *re  frank  and  pleasant, 
ain't  you  ?  And  I  '11  be  the  same.  I  don't  mean 
to  shoot  you  to-day.  Why  should  I?  This  busi- 
ness is  beginning;  it  ain't  done  yet,  Mr.  Case. 
I  've  given  you  one  turn  already.  I  can  see  the 
marks  of  my  knuckles  on  your  head  to  this 
blooming  hour,  and  I  've  more  cooking  for 
you.  I  'm  not  a  paralee,  like  Underbill.  My 
name  ain't  Adams,  and  it  ain't  Vigours;  and 
I  mean  to  show  you  that  you  've  met  your 
match." 

"  This  is  a  silly  way  to  talk,"  said  he.  "  This 
is  not  the  talk  to  make  me  move  on  with." 

"  All  right,"  said  I,  "  stay  where  you  are.  I 
ain't  in  any  hurry,  and  you  know  it.  I  can  put 
in  a  day  on  this  beach  and  never  mind.  I  ain't 
got  any  copra  to  bother  with.  I  ain't  got  any 
luminous  paint  to  see  to." 

I  was  sorry  I  said  that  last,  but  it  whipped  out 
before  I  knew.  I  could  see  it  took  the  wind  out 
of  his  sails,  and  he  stood  and  stared  at  me  with 


ii8  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

his  brow  drawn  up.  Then  I  suppose  he  made  up 
his  mind  he  must  get  to  the  bottom  of  this. 

*'  I  take  you  at  your  word,"  says  he,  and  turned 
his  back,  and  walked  right  into  the  devil's  bush. 

I  let  him  go,  of  course,  for  I  had  passed  m.y 
word.  But  I  watched  him  as  long  as  he  was  in 
sight,  and  after  he  was  gone  lit  out  for  cover 
as  lively  as  you  would  want  to  see,  and  went  the 
rest  of  the  way  home  under  the  bush,  for  I  did  n't 
trust  him  sixpence  worth.  One  thing  I  saw,  I 
had  been  ass  enough  to  give  him  warning,  and 
that  which  I  meant  to  do  I  must  do  at  once. 

You  would  think  I  had  had  about  enough  ex- 
citement for  one  morning,  but  there  was  another 
turn  waiting  me.  As  soon  as  I  got  far  enough 
round  the  cape  to  see  my  house  I  made  out  there 
were  strangers  there ;  a  little  farther,  and  no  doubt 
about  it.  There  was  a  couple  of  armed  sentinels 
squatting  at  my  door.  I  could  only  suppose  the 
trouble  about  Uma  must  have  come  to  a  head, 
and  the  station  been  seized.  For  aught  I  could 
think,  Uma  was  taken  up  already,  and  these 
armed  men  were  waiting  to  do  the  like  with  me. 


THE    BEACH    OF    FALESA     119 

However,  as  I  came  nearer,  which  I  did  at  top 
speed,  I  saw  there  was  a  third  native  sitting  on 
the  veranda  Hke  a  guest,  and  Uma  was  talking 
with  him  hke  a  hostess.  Nearer  still  I  made  out 
it  was  the  big  young  chief,  Maea,  and  that  he 
was  smiling  away  and  smoking.  And  what  was 
he  smoking?  None  of  your  European  cigarettes 
fit  for  a  cat,  not  even  the  genuine  big,  knock-me- 
down  native  article  that  a  fellow  can  really  put 
in  the  time  with  if  his  pipe  is  broke  —  but  a  cigar, 
and  one  of  my  Mexicans  at  that,  that  I  could 
swear  to.  At  sight  of  this  my  heart  started  beat- 
ing, and  I  took  a  wild  hope  in  my  head  that  the 
trouble  was  over,  and  Maea  had  come  round. 

Uma  pointed  me  out  to  him  as  I  came  up,  and 
he  met  me  at  the  head  of  my  own  stairs  like  a 
thorough  gentleman. 

"  Vilivili,"  said  he,  which  was  the  best  they 
could  make  of  my  name,  "  I  pleased." 

There  Is  no  doubt  when  an  island  chief  wants 
to  be  civil  he  can  do  it.  I  saw  the  way  things 
were  from  the  word  go.  There  was  no  call  for 
Uma  to  say  to  me:  "  He  no  'fraid  Ese  now,  come 


I20  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

bring  copra."  I  tell  you  I  shook  hands  with  that 
Kanaka  like  as  if  he  was  the  best  white  man  in 
Europe. 

The  fact  was,  Case  and  he  had  got  after  the 
same  girl,  or  Maea  suspected  it,  and  concluded 
to  make  hay  of  the  trader  on  the  chance.  He  had 
dressed  himself  up,  got  a  couple  of  his  retainers 
cleaned  and  armed  to  kind  of  make  the  thing  more 
public,  and,  just  waiting  till  Case  was  clear  of 
the  village,  came  round  to  put  the  whole  of  his 
business  my  way.  He  was  rich  as  well  as  power- 
ful. I  suppose  that  man  was  worth  fifty  thou- 
sand nuts  per  annum.  I  gave  him  the  price  of 
the  beach  and  a  quarter  cent  better,  and  as  for 
credit,  I  would  have  advanced  him  the  inside  of 
the  store  and  the  fittings  besides,  I  was  so  pleased 
to  see  him.  I  must  say  he  bought  like  a  gentle- 
man: rice  and  tins  and  biscuits  enough  for  a 
week's  feast,  and  stuffs  by  the  bolt.  He  was  agree- 
able besides;  he  had  plenty  fun  to  him;  and  we 
cracked  jests  together,  mostly  through  the  inter- 
preter, because  he  had  mighty  little  English,  and 
my  native  was  still  off  colour.     One  thing  I  made 


THE    BEACH    OF    FALESA    121 

out:  he  could  never  really  have  thought  much 
harm  of  Uma;  he  could  never  have  been  really 
frightened,  and  must  just  have  made  believe  from 
dodginess,  and  because  he  thought  Case  had  a 
strong  pull  in  the  village  and  could  help  him  on. 

This  set  me  thinking  that  both  he  and  I  were 
in  a  tightish  place.  What  he  had  done  was  to 
fly  in  the  face  of  the  whole  village,  and  the  thing 
might  cost  him  his  authority.  More  than  that, 
after  my  talk  with  Case  on  the  beach,  I  thought 
it  might  very  well  cost  me  my  life.  Case  had  as 
good  as  said  he  would  pot  me  if  ever  I  got  any 
copra;  he  would  come  home  to  find  the  best  busi- 
ness in  the  village  had  changed  hands,  and  the 
best  thing  I  thought  I  could  do  was  to  get  in 
first  with  the  potting. 

"  See  here,  Uma,"  says  I,  "  tell  him  I  'm  sorry 
T  made  him  wait,  but  I  was  up  looking  at  Case's 
Tiapolo  store  in  the  bush." 

"He  want  savvy  if  you  no  'fraid?"  translated 
Uma. 

I  laughed  out.  "  Not  much !  "  says  I.  "  Tell 
him  the  place  is  a  bloomine  toy-shop!     Tell  him 


122  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

in  England  we  give  these  things  to  the  kid  to 
play  with." 

"He  want  savvy  if  you  hear  devil  sing?"  she 
asked  next. 

"  Look  here,"  I  said,  "  I  can't  do  it  now,  be- 
cause I  Ve  got  no  banjo-strings  in  stock ;  but  the 
next  time  the  ship  comes  round  I  '11  have  one  of 
these  same  contraptions  right  here  in  my  veranda, 
and  he  can  see  for  himself  how  much  devil  there 
is  to  it.  Tell  him,  as  soon  as  I  can  get  the  strings 
I  '11  make  one  for  his  pickaninnies.  The  name  of 
the  concern  is  a  Tyrolean  harp;  and  you  can  tell 
him  the  name  means  in  English  that  nobody  but 
dam-fools  give  a  cent  for  it." 

This  time  he  was  so  pleased  he  had  to  try  his 
English  again.     "You  talk  true?"  says  he. 

"Rather!"  said  I.  "Talk  all-a-same  Bible. 
Bring  out  a  Bible  here,  Uma,  if  you  've  got  such 
a  thing,  and  I  '11  kiss  it.  Or,  I  '11  tell  you  what 's 
better  still,"  says  I,  taking  a  header,  "  ask  him 
if  he  's  afraid  to  go  up  there  himself  by  day." 

It  appeared  he  was  n't ;  he  could  venture  as  far 
as  that  by  day  and  in  company. 


THE    BEACH    OF    FALESA     123 

*'  That 's  the  ticket,  then!  "  said  I.  "  Tell  him 
the  man  's  a  fraud  and  the  place  foolishness,  and 
if  he  '11  go  up  there  to-morrow  he  '11  see  all  that 's 
left  of  it.  But  tell  him  this,  Uma,  and  mind  he 
understands  it :  If  he  gets  talking  it 's  bound  to 
come  to  Case,  and  I  'm  a  dead  man !  I  'm  play- 
ing his  game,  tell  him,  and  if  he  says  one  word 
my  blood  will  be  at  his  door  and  be  the  damna- 
tion of  him  here  and  after." 

She  told  him,  and  he  shook  hands  with  me  up 
to  the  hilt,  and,  says  he :  "  No  talk.  Go  up  to- 
mollovv.     You  my  friend  ?  " 

"  No,  sir,"  says  I,  "  no  such  foolishness.  I  've 
come  here  to  trade,  tell  him,  and  not  to  make 
friends.  But,  as  to  Case,  I  '11  send  that  man  to 
glory!" 

So  off  Maea  went,  pretty  well  pleased,  as  I 
could  see. 


CHAPTER  V 

NIGHT   IN   THE   BUSH 

WELL,  I  was  committed  now;  Tiapolo 
had  to  be  smashed  up  before  next  day, 
and  my  hands  were  pretty  full,  not 
only  with  preparations,  but  with  argument.  My 
house  was  like  a  mechanics'  debating  society. 
Uma  was  so  made  up  that  I  should  n't  go  into 
the  bush  by  night,  or  that,  if  I  did,  I  was  never 
to  come  back  again.  You  know  her  style  of  ar- 
guing :  you  've  had  a  specimen  about  Queen  Vic- 
toria and  the  devil;  and  I  leave  you  to  fancy  if  I 
was  tired  of  it  before  dark. 

At  last  I  had  a  good  idea.  "  What  was  the 
use  of  casting  my  pearls  before  her?  "  I  thought; 
some  of  her  own  chopped  hay  would  be  likelier 
to  do  the  business. 

"  I  '11  tell  you  what,  then,"  said  I.     "  You  fish 


THE    BEACH    OF    FALESA     125 

out  your  Bible,  and  I  '11  take  that  up  along  with 
me.     That  '11  make  me  right." 

She  swore  a  Bible  was  no  use. 

*'  That 's  just  your  Kanaka  ignorance,"  said  I. 
"  Bring  the  Bible  out." 

She  brought  it,  and  I  turned  to  the  title-page, 
where  I  thought  there  would  likely  be  some  Eng- 
lish, and  so  there  was.  ''  There!  "  said  I.  **  Look 
at  that!  *  London:  Printed  for  the  British  and 
Foreign  Bible  Society,  Blackfriars/  and  the  date, 
which  I  can't  read,  owing  to  its  being  in  these 
X's.  There  's  no  devil  in  hell  can  look  near  the 
Bible  Society,  Blackfriars.  Why,  you  silly,"  I 
said,  '*  how  do  you  suppose  we  get  along  with  our 
own  aittis  at  home !     All  Bible  Society ! " 

^'  I  think  you  no  got  any,"  said  she.  "  White 
man,  he  tell  me  you  no  got." 

"Sounds  likely,  don't  it?"  I  asked.  "Why 
would  these  islands  all  be  chock  full  of  them  and 
none  in  Europe?  " 

"  Well,  you  no  got  bread-fruit,"  said  she. 

I  could  have  torn  my  hair.  "  Now,  look  here, 
old  lady,"  said  I,  "  you  dry  up,  for  I  'm  tired  of 


126  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

you.  I  '11  take  the  Bible,  which  '11  put  me  as 
straight  as  the  mail,  and  that 's  the  last  word 
I  've  got  to  say." 

The  night  fell  extraordinary  dark,  clouds  com- 
ing up  with  sundown  and  overspreading  all;  not 
a  star  showed;  there  was  only  an  end  of  a  moon, 
and  that  not  due  before  the  small  hours.  Round 
the  village,  what  with  the  lights  and  the  fires  in 
the  open  houses,  and  the  torches  of  many  fishers 
moving  on  the  reef,  it  kept  as  gay  as  an  illumina- 
tion; but  the  sea  and  the  mountains  and  woods 
were  all  clean  gone.  I  suppose  it  might  be  eight 
o'clock  when  I  took  the  road,  laden  like  a  donkey. 
First  there  was  that  Bible,  a  book  as  big  as  your 
head,  which  I  had  let  myself  in  for  by  my  own 
tomfoolery.  Then  there  was  my  gun,  and  knife, 
and  lantern,  and  patent  matches,  all  necessary. 
And  then  there  was  the  real  plant  of  the  afifair 
in  hand,  a  mortal  weight  of  gunpowder,  a  pair 
of  dynamite  fishing-bombs,  and  two  or  three 
pieces  of  slowmatch  that  I  had  hauled  out  of  the 
tin  cases  and  spliced  together  the  best  way  I  could ; 
for  the  match  was  only  trade  stuff,  and  a  man 


THE    BEACH    OF    FALESA    127 

would  be  crazy  that  trusted  it.  Altogether,  you 
see,  I  had  the  materials  of  a  pretty  good  blow  up! 
Expense  was  nothing  to  me;  I  wanted  that  thing 
done  right. 

As  long  as  I  was  in  the  open,  and  had  the 
lamp  in  my  house  to  steer  by,  I  did  well.  But 
when  I  got  to  the  path,  it  fell  so  dark  I  could 
make  no  headway,  walking  into  trees  and  swear- 
ing there,  like  a  man  looking  for  the  matches 
in  his  bed-room.  I  knew  it  was  risky  to  light 
up,  for  my  lantern  would  be  visible  all  the  way 
to  the  point  of  the  cape,  and  as  no  one  went 
there  after  dark,  it  would  be  talked  about,  and 
come  to  Case's  ears.  But  what  was  I  to  do? 
I  had  either  to  give  the  business  over  and  lose 
caste  with  Maea,  or  light  up,  take  my  chance, 
and  get  through  the  thing  the  smartest  I  was 
able. 

As  long  as  I  was  on  the  path  I  walked  hard,  but 
when  I  came  to  the  black  beach  I  had  to  run. 
For  the  tide  was  now  nearly  flowed ;  and  to  get 
through  with  my  powder  dry  between  the  surf 
and  the  steep  hill,  took  all  the  quickness  I  pos- 


128  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

sessed.  As  it  was,  even  the  wash  caught  me  to 
the  knees,  and  I  came  near  falhng  on  a  stone. 
All  this  time  the  hurry  I  was  in,  and  the  free 
air  and  smell  of  the  sea,  kept  my  spirits  lively; 
but  when  I  was  once  in  the  bush  and  began  to 
climb  the  path  I  took  it  easier.  The  fearsome- 
ness  of  the  wood  had  been  a  good  bit  rubbed  off 
for  me  by  Master  Case's  banjo-strings  and  graven 
images,  yet  I  thought  it  was  a  dreary  walk,  and 
guessed,  when  the  disciples  went  up  there,  they 
must  be  badly  scared.  The  light  of  the  lan- 
tern, striking  among  all  these  trunks  and  forked 
branches  and  twisted  rope-ends  of  lianas,  made  the 
whole  place,  or  all  that  you  could  see  of  it,  a  kind 
of  a  puzzle  of  turning  shadows.  They  came  to 
meet  you,  solid  and  quick  like  giants,  and  then 
spun  off  and  vanished;  they  hove  up  over  your 
head  like  clubs,  and  flew  away  into  the  night  like 
birds.  The  floor  of  the  bush  glimmered  with 
dead  wood,  the  way  the  match-box  used  to  shine 
after  you  had  struck  a  lucifer.  Big,  cold  drops 
fell  on  me  from  the  branches  overhead  like 
sweat.     There  was  no  wind  to  mention;  only  a 


THE    BEACH    OF    FALESA     i2y 

little    icy    breath    of    a    land-breeze    that    stirred 
nothing;  and  the  harps  were  silent. 

The  first  landfall  I  made  was  when  I  got 
through  the  bush  of  wild  cocoa-nuts,  and  came 
in  view  of  the  bogies  on  the  wall.  Mighty  queer 
they  looked  by  the  shining  of  the  lantern,  with 
their  painted  faces  and  shell  eyes,  and  their 
clothes,  and  their  hair  hanging.  One  after  an- 
other I  pulled  them  all  up  and  piled  them  in  a 
bundle  on  the  cellar  roof,  so  as  they  might  go 
to  glory  with  the  rest.  Then  I  chose  a  place  be- 
hind one  of  the  big  stones  at  the  entrance,  buried 
my  powder  and  the  two  shells,  and  arranged  my 
match  along  the  passage.  And  then  I  had  a  look 
at  the  smoking  head,  just  for  good-bye.  It  was 
doing  fine. 

"  Cheer  up,"  says  I.  "  You  're  booked." 
It  was  my  first  idea  to  light  up  and  be  getting 
homeward ;  for  the  darkness  and  the  glimmer  of 
the  dead  wood  and  the  shadows  of  the  lantern 
made  me  lonely.  But  I  knew  where  one  of  the 
harps  hung ;  it  seemed  a  pity  it  should  n't  go  with 
the  rest;  and  at  the  same  time  I  couldn't  help 

9 


I30  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

letting  on  to  myself  that  I  was  mortal  tired  of 
my  employment,  and  would  like  best  to  be  at 
home  and  have  the  door  shut.  I  stepped  out  of 
the  cellar  and  argued  it  fore  and  back.  There 
was  a  sound  of  the  sea  far  down  below  me  on 
the  coast;  nearer  hand  not  a  leaf  stirred;  I  might 
have  been  the  only  living  creature  this  side  of 
Cape  Horn.  Well,  as  I  stood  there  thinking,  it 
seemed  the  bush  woke  and  became  full  of  little 
noises.  Little  noises  they  were,  and  nothing  to 
hurt;  a  bit  of  a  crackle,  a  bit  of  a  rush;  but  the 
breath  jumped  right  out  of  me  and  my  throat  went 
as  dry  as  a  biscuit.  It  was  n't  Case  I  was  afraid 
of,  which  would  have  been  common-sense ;  I  never 
thought  of  Case;  what  took  me,  as  sharp  as  the 
colic,  was  the  old  wives'  tales  —  the  devil-women 
and  the  man-pigs.  It  was  the  toss  of  a  penny 
whether  I  should  run;  but  I  got  a  purchase  on 
myself,  and  stepped  out,  and  held  up  the  lantern 
(like  a  fool)   and  looked  all  round. 

In  the  direction  of  the  village  and  the  path 
there  was  nothing  to  be  seen;  but  when  I  turned 
inland  it 's  a  wonder  to  me  I  did  n't  drop.    There, 


THE    BEACH    OF    FALESA     131 

coming  right  up  out  of  the  desert  and  the  bad 
bush  —  there,  sure  enough,  was  a  devil-woman, 
just  as  the  way  I  had  figured  she  would  look.  I 
saw  the  light  shine  on  her  bare  arms  and  her 
bright  eyes,  and  there  went  out  of  me  a  yell  so 
big  that  I  thought  it  was  my  death. 

"  Ah !  No  sing  out !  "  says  the  devil-woman, 
in  a  kind  of  a  high  whisper.  "  Why  you  talk  big 
voice?     Put  out  light!     Ese  he  come." 

"My  God  Almighty,  Uma,  is  that  you?" 
says  I. 

"  loe,''  ^  says  she.  "  I  come  quick.  Ese  here 
soon." 

"You  come  along?"  I  asked.  "You  no 
'fraid?" 

"Ah,  too  much  'fraid!"  she  whispered,  clutch- 
ing me.     "  I  think  die." 

"  Well,"  says  I,  with  a  kind  of  a  weak  grin. 
"  I  'm  not  the  one  to  laugh  at  you,  Mrs.  Wilt- 
shire, for  I  'm  about  the  worst  scared  man  in  the 
South  Pacific  myself." 

She  told  me  in  two  words  what  brought  her.    I 

2  Yes. 


132  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

was  scarce  gone,  it  seems,  when  Faavao  came  in, 
and  the  old  woman  had  met  Black  Jack  running 
as  hard  as  he  was  fit  from  our  house  to  Case's. 
Uma  neither  spoke  nor  stopped,  but  lit  right  out 
to  come  and  warn  me.  She  was  so  close  at  my 
heels  that  the  lantern  was  her  guide  across  the 
beach,  and  afterward,  by  the  glimmer  of  it  in 
the  trees,  she  got  her  line  up-hill.  It  was  only 
when  I  had  got  to  the  top  or  was  in  the  cellar 
that  she  wandered  —  Lord  knows  where!  —  and 
lost  a  sight  of  precious  time,  afraid  to  call  out 
lest  Case  was  at  the  heels  of  her,  and  falling 
in  the  bush,  so  that  she  was  all  knocked  and 
bruised.  That  must  have  been  when  she  got  too 
far  to  the  southward,  and  how  she  came  to  take 
me  in  the  flank  at  last  and  frighten  me  beyond 
what  I  've  got  the  words  to  tell  of. 

Well,  anything  was  better  than  a  devil-woman, 
but  I  thought  her  yarn  serious  enough.  Black 
Jack  had  no  call  to  be  about  my  house,  unless 
he  was  set  there  to  watch;  and  it  looked  to  me 
as  if  my  tomfool  word  about  the  paint,  and  per- 
haps some  chatter  of  Maea's,  had  got  us  all  in  a 


THE    BEACH    OF   FALESA    133 

clove  hitch.  One  thing  was  clear:  Uma  and  I 
were  here  for  the  night ;  we  dare  n't  try  to  go 
home  before  day,  and  even  then  it  would  be  safer 
to  strike  round  up  the  mountain  and  come  in  by 
the  back  of  the  village,  or  we  might  walk  into  an 
ambuscade.  It  was  plain,  too,  that  the  mine 
should  be  sprung  immediately,  or  Case  might  be 
in  time  to  stop  it. 

I  marched  into  the  tunnel,  Uma  keeping  tight 
hold  of  me,  opened  my  lantern  and  lit  the  match. 
The  first  length  of  it  burned  like  a  spill  of  paper, 
and  I  stood  stupid,  watching  it  burn,  and  think- 
ing we  w^ere  going  aloft  with  Tiapolo,  which  was 
none  of  my  views.  The  second  took  to  a  better 
rate,  though  faster  than  I  cared  about;  and  at 
that  I  got  my  wits  again,  hauled  Uma  clear  of  the 
passage,  blew  out  and  dropped  the  lantern,  and 
the  pair  of  us  groped  our  way  into  the  bush  until 
I  thought  it  might  be  safe,  and  lay  down  together 
by  a  tree. 

"  Old  lady,"  I  said,  "  T  won't  forget  this  night. 
You  're  a  trump,  and  that 's  what 's  wrong  with 
you." 


134  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

She  bumped  herself  close  up  to  me.  She  had 
run  out  the  way  she  was,  with  nothing  on  her  but 
her  kilt;  and  she  was  all  wet  with  the  dews  and 
the  sea  on  the  black  beach,  and  shook  straight  on 
with  cold  and  the  terror  of  the  dark  and  the 
devils. 

"  Too  much  'fraid,"  was  all  she  said. 

The  far  side  of  Case's  hill  goes  down  near  as 
steep  as  a  precipice  into  the  next  valley.  We 
were  on  the  very  edge  of  it,  and  I  could  see  the 
dead  wood  shine  and  hear  the  sea  sound  far  below. 
I  did  n't  care  about  the  position,  which  left  me  no 
retreat,  but  I  was  afraid  to  change.  Then  I  saw 
I  had  made  a  worse  mistake  about  the  lantern, 
which  I  should  have  left  lighted,  so  that  I  could 
have  had  a  crack  at  Case  when  he  stepped  into 
the  shine  of  it.  And  since  I  had  n't  had  the  wit 
to  do  that,  it  seemed  a  senseless  thing  to  leave  the 
good  lantern  to  blow  up  with  the  graven  images. 
The  thing  belonged  to  me,  after  all,  and  was 
worth  money,  and  might  come  in  handy.  If  I 
could  have  trusted  the  match,  I  might  have  run 
in  still  and   rescued  it.     But  who  was  going  to 


THE    BEACH    OF    FALESA    135 

trust  to  the  match?  You  know  what  trade  is. 
The  stuff  was  good  enough  for  Kanakas  to  go 
fishing  with,  where  they  Ve  got  to  look  Hvely 
anyway,  and  the  most  they  risk  is  only  to  have 
their  hand  blown  off.  But  for  any  one  that 
wanted  to  fool  around  a  blow  up  like  mine  that 
match  was  rubbish. 

Altogether  the  best  I  could  do  was  to  He  still, 
see  my  shot-gun  handy,  and  wait  for  the  explo- 
sion. But  it  was  a  solemn  kind  of  a  business. 
The  blackness  of  the  night  was  like  solid;  the 
only  thing  you  could  see  was  the  nasty  bogy  glim- 
mer of  the  dead  wood,  and  that  showed  you 
nothing  but  itself;  and  as  for  sounds,  I  stretched 
my  ears  till  I  thought  I  could  have  heard  the 
match  burn  in  the  tunnel,  and  that  bush  was  as 
silent  as  a  coffin.  Now  and  then  there  was  a  bit 
of  a  crack ;  but  whether  it  was  near  or  far,  whether 
it  was  Case  stubbing  his  toes  within  a  few  yards 
of  me,  or  a  tree  breaking  miles  away,  I  knew  no 
more  than  the  babe  unborn. 

And  then,  all  of  a  sudden,  Vesuvius  went  off. 
It  was  a  long  time  coming;  but  when   it  came 


136  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

(though  I  say  it  that  shouldn't)  no  man  could 
ask  to  see  a  better.  At  first  it  was  just  a  son  of 
a  gun  of  a  row,  and  a  spout  of  fire,  and  the  wood 
lighted  up  so  that  you  could  see  to  read.  And  then 
the  trouble  began.  Uma  and  I  were  half  buried 
under  a  wagonful  of  earth,  and  glad  it  was  no 
worse,  for  one  of  the  rocks  at  the  entrance  of  the 
tunnel  was  fired  clean  into  the  air,  fell  within  a 
couple  of  fathoms  of  where  we  lay,  and  bounded 
over  the  edge  of  the  hill,  and  went  pounding  down 
into  the  next  valley.  I  saw  I  had  rather  under- 
calculated  our  distance,  or  overdone  the  dyna- 
mite and  powder,  which  you  please. 

And  presently  I  saw  I  had  made  another  slip. 
The  noise  of  the  thing  began  to  die  off,  shaking 
the  island ;  the  dazzle  was  over ;  and  yet  the  night 
did  n't  come  back  the  way  I  expected.  For  the 
whole  wood  was  scattered  with  red  coals  and 
brands  from  the  explosion;  they  were  all  round 
me  on  the  flat,  some  had  fallen  below  in  the  val- 
ley, and  some  stuck  and  flared  in  the  tree-tops. 
I  had  no  fear  of  fire,  for  these  forests  are  too 
wet  to  kindle.     But  the  trouble  was  that  the  place 


THE    BEACH    OF    FALESA     137 

ivas  all  lit  up  —  not  very  bright,  but  good  enough 
to  get  a  shot  by;  and  the  way  the  coals  were 
scattered,  it  was  just  as  likely  Case  might  have 
the  advantage  as  myself.  I  looked  all  round  for 
his  white  face,  you  may  be  sure;  but  there  was 
not  a  sign  of  him.  As  for  Uma,  the  life  seemed 
to  have  been  knocked  right  out  of  her  by  the 
bang  and  blaze  of  it. 

There  was  one  bad  point  in  my  game.  One 
of  the  blessed  graven  images  had  come  down  all 
afire,  hair  and  clothes  and  body,  not  four  yards 
away  from  me.  I  cast  a  mighty  noticing  glance 
all  round;  there  was  still  no  Case,  and  I  made  up 
my  mind  I  must  get  rid  of  that  burning  stick 
before  he  came,  or  I  should  be  shot  there  like  a 
dog. 

It  was  my  first  idea  to  have  crawled,  and  then 
I  thought  speed  was  the  main  thing,  and  stood 
half  up  to  make  a  rush.  The  same  moment,  from 
somewhere  between  me  and  the  sea,  there  came 
a  flash  and  a  report,  and  a  rifle-bullet  screeched 
in  my  ear.  I  swung  straight  round  and  up  with 
my   g"un,   but   the   brute   had    a    Winchester,    and 


ijS  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

before  I  could  as  much  as  see  him  his  second  shot 
knocked  me  over  Hke  a  ninepin.  I  seemed  to  fly 
in  the  air,  then  came  down  by  the  run  and  lay 
half  a  minute,  silly;  and  then  I  found  my  hands 
empty,  and  my  gun  had  flown  over  my  head  as 
I  fell.  It  makes  a  man  mighty  wide  awake  to 
be  in  the  kind  of  box  that  I  was  in.  I  scarcely 
knew  where  I  was  hurt,  or  whether  I  was  hurt  or 
not,  but  turned  right  over  on  my  face  to  crawl 
after  my  weapon.  Unless  you  have  tried  to  get 
about  with  a  smashed  leg  you  don't  know  what 
pain  is,  and  I  let  out  a  howl  like  a  bullock's. 

This  was  the  unluckiest  noise  that  ever  I  made 
in  my  life.  Up  to  then  Uma  had  stuck  to  her 
tree  like  a  sensible  woman,  knowing  she  would 
be  only  in  the  way;  but  as  soon  as  she  heard 
me  sing  out  she  ran  forward.  The  Winchester 
cracked  again,  and  down  she  w^ent. 

I  had  sat  up,  leg  and  all,  to  stop  her;  but  when 
I  saw  her  tumble  I  clapped  down  again  where  I 
was,  lay  still,  and  felt  the  handle  of  my  knife.  I 
had  been  scurried  and  put  out  before.  No  more  of 
that  for  me.    He  had  knocked  over  my  girl,  I  had 


THE    BEACH    OF    FALESA    139 

got  to  fix  him  for  it;  and  I  lay  there  and  gritted 
my  teeth,  and  footed  up  the  chances.  My  leg 
was  broke,  my  gun  was  gone.  Case  had  still  ten 
shots  in  his  Winchester.  It  looked  a  kind  of  hope- 
less business.  But  I  never  despaired  nor  thought 
upon  despairing:    that  man  had  got  to  go. 

For  a  goodish  bit  not  one  of  us  let  on.  Then 
I  heard  Case  begin  to  move  nearer  in  the  bush, 
but  mighty  careful.  The  image  had  burned  out, 
there  were  only  a  few  coals  left  here  and  there, 
and  the  wood  was  main  dark,  but  had  a  kind  of 
a  low  glow  in  it  like  a  fire  on  its  last  legs.  It 
was  by  this  that  I  made  out  Case's  head  looking 
at  me  over  a  big  tuft  of  ferns,  and  at  the  same 
time  the  brute  saw  me  and  shouldered  his  Win- 
chester. I  lay  quite  still,  and  as  good  as  looked 
into  the  barrel :  it  was  my  last  chance,  but  I 
thought  my  heart  would  have  come  right  out  of 
its  bearings.  Then  he  fired.  Lucky  for  me  it 
was  no  shot-gun,  for  the  bullet  struck  within  an 
inch  of  me  and  knocked  the  dirt  in  my  eyes. 

Just  you  try  and  see  if  you  can  lie  quiet,  and 
let  a  man  take  a  sitting  shot  at  you  and  miss  you 


I40  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

by  a  hair.  But  I  did,  and  lucky,  too.  Awhile 
Case  stood  with  the  Winchester  at  the  port-arms; 
then  he  gave  a  little  laugh  to  himself  and  stepped 
round  the  ferns. 

"Laugh!"  thought  I.  "If  you  had  the  wit 
of  a  louse  you  would  be  praying!" 

I  was  all  as  taut  as  a  ship's  hawser  or  the 
spring  of  a  watch,  and  as  soon  as  he  came  within 
reach  of  me  I  had  him  by  the  ankle,  plucked  the 
feet  right  out  from  under  him,  laid  him  out,  and 
was  upon  the  top  of  him,  broken  leg  and  all,  be- 
fore he  breathed.  His  Winchester  had  gone  the 
same  road  as  my  shot-gun;  it  was  nothing  to  me 
—  I  defied  him  now.  I  'm  a  pretty  strong  man 
anyway,  but  I  never  knew  what  strength  was  till 
I  got  hold  of  Case.  He  was  knocked  out  of  time 
by  the  rattle  he  came  down  with,  and  threw  up 
his  hands  together,  more  like  a  frightened  woman, 
so  that  I  caught  both  of  them  with  my  left.  This 
wakened  him  up,  and  he  fastened  his  teeth  in 
my  forearm  like  a  weasel.  Much  I  cared.  My 
leg  gave  me  all  the  pain  I  had  any  use  for,  and  I 
drew  my  knife  and  got  it  in  the  place. 


THE    BEACH    OF    FALESA     141 

"  Now,"  said  I,  "  I  've  got  you ;  and  you  're 
gone  up,  and  a  good  job  too!  Do  you  feel  the 
point  of  that?  That's  for  Underhill!  And 
there  's  for  Adams !  And  now  here  's  for  Uma, 
and  that  's  going  to  knock  your  blooming  soul 
right  out  of  you !  " 

With  that  I  gave  him  the  cold  steel  for  all  I 
was  worth.  His  body  kicked  under  me  like  a 
spring  sofa;  he  gave  sl  dreadful  kind  of  a  long 
moan,  and  lay  still. 

"I  wonder  if  you're  dead?  I  hope  so!"  I 
thought,  for  my  head  was  swimming.  But  I 
was  n't  going  to  take  chances ;  I  had  his  own  ex- 
ample too  close  before  me  for  that;  and  I  tried  to 
draw  the  knife  out  to  give  it  him  again.  The 
blood  came  over  my  hands,  I  remember,  hot  as 
tea;  and  with  that  I  fainted  clean  away,  and  fell 
with  my  head  on  the  man's  mouth. 

When  I  came  to  myself  it  was  pitch  dark;  the 
cinders  had  burned  out;  there  was  nothing  to  be 
seen  but  the  shine  of  the  dead  wood,  and  I 
could  n't  remember  where  I  was  nor  why  I  was 
in  such  pain,  nor  what  I  was  all  wetted  with.    Then 


142  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

it  came  back,  and  the  first  thing  I  attended  to 
was  to  give  him  the  knife  again  a  half-a-dozen 
times  up  to  the  handle.  I  believe  he  was  dead 
already,  but  it  did  him  no  harm  and  did  me 
good. 

''  I  bet  you  *re  dead  now,"  I  said,  and  then  I 
called  to  Uma. 

Nothing  answered,  and  I  made  a  move  to  go 
and  grope  for  her,  fouled  my  broken  leg,  and 
fainted  again. 

When  I  came  to  myself  the  second  time  the 
clouds  had  all  cleared  away,  except  a  few  that 
sailed  there,  white  as  cotton.  The  moon  was  up 
—  a  tropic  moon.  The  moon  at  home  turns  a 
wood  black,  but  even  this  old  butt-end  of  a  one 
showed  up  that  forest  as  green  as  by  day.  The 
night  birds  —  or,  rather,  they  're  a  kind  of  early 
morning  bird  —  sang  out  with  their  long,  falling 
notes  like  nightingales.  And  I  could  see  the  dead 
man,  that  I  was  still  half  resting  on,  looking  right 
up  into  the  sky  with  his  open  eyes,  no  paler  than 
when  he  was  alive;  and  a  little  way  off  Uma 
tumbled  on  her  side.     I  got  over  to  her  the  best 


THE    BEACH    OF    FALESA     143 

way  I  was  able,  and  when  I  got  there  she  was 
broad  awake  and  crying,  and  sobbing  to  herself 
with  no  more  noise  than  an  insect.  It  appears  she 
was  afraid  to  cry  out  loud,  because  of  the  aiius. 
Altogether  she  was  not  much  hurt,  but  scared 
beyond  belief;  she  had  come  to  her  senses  a  long 
while  ago,  cried  out  to  me,  heard  nothing  in  reply, 
made  out  we  were  both  dead,  and  had  lain  there 
ever  since,  afraid  to  budge  a  finger.  The  ball 
had  ploughed  up  her  shoulder,  and  she  had  lost 
a  main  quantity  of  blood;  but  I  soon  had  that 
tied  up  the  way  it  ought  to  be  with  the  tail  of  my 
shirt  and  a  scarf  I  had  on,  got  her  head  on  my 
sound  knee  and  my  back  against  a  trunk,  and  set- 
tled down  to  wait  for  morning.  Uma  was  for 
neither  use  nor  ornament,  and  could  only  clutch 
hold  of  me  and  shake  and  cry.  I  don't  suppose 
there  was  ever  anybody  worse  scared,  and,  to  do 
her  justice,  she  had  had  a  lively  night  of  it.  As 
for  me,  I  was  in  a  good  bit  of  pain  and  fever, 
but  not  so  bad  when  I  sat  still ;  and  every  time 
I  looked  over  to  Case  I  could  have  sung  and 
whistled.     Talk  about  meat  and  drink!     To  see 


144  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

that  man  lying  there  dead  as  a  herring  filled  me 
full. 

The  night  birds  stopped  after  awhile;  and  then 
the  light  began  to  change,  the  east  came  orange, 
the  whole  wood  began  to  whirr  with  singing  like 
a  musical  box,  and  there  was  the  broad  day. 

I  did  n't  expect  Maea  for  a  long  while  yet ;  and, 
indeed,  I  thought  there  was  an  off-chance  he  might 
go  back  on  the  whole  idea  and  not  come  at  all. 
I  was  the  better  pleased  when,  about  an  hour 
after  daylight,  I  heard  sticks  smashing  and  a  lot 
of  Kanakas  laughing  and  singing  out  to  keep 
their  courage  up.  Uma  sat  up  quite  brisk  at  the 
first  word  of  it;  and  presently  we  saw  a  party 
come  stringing  out  of  the  path,  Maea  in  front, 
and  behind  him  a  white  man  in  a  pith  helmet.  It 
was  Mr.  Tarleton,  who  had  turned  up  late  last 
night  in  Falesa,  having  left  his  boat  and  walked 
the  last  stage  with  a  lantern. 

They  buried  Case  upon  the  field  of  glory,  right 
in  the  hole  where  he  had  kept  the  smoking  head. 
I  waited  till  the  thing  was  done ;  and  Mr.  Tarleton 
prayed,    which    I    thought    tomfoolery,    but    I  'm 


THE    BEACH    OF    FALESA     145 

bound  to  say  he  gave  a  pretty  sick  view  of  the 
dear  departed's  prospects,  and  seemed  to  have  his 
own  ideas  of  hell.  I  had  it  out  with  him  after- 
ward, told  him  he  had  scamped  his  duty,  and  what 
he  had  ought  to  have  done  was  to  up  like  a  man 
and  tell  the  Kanakas  plainly  Case  was  damned, 
and  a  good  riddance ;  but  I  never  could  get  him  to 
see  it  my  way.  Then  they  made  me  a  litter  of 
poles  and  carried  me  down  to  the  station.  Mr. 
Tarleton  set  my  leg,  and  made  a  regular  mission- 
ary splice  of  it,  so  that  I  limp  to  this  day.  That 
done,  he  took  down  my  evidence,  and  Uma's,  and 
Maea's,  wTote  it  all  out  fine,  and  had  us  sign  it; 
and  then  he  got  the  chiefs  and  marched  over  to 
Papa  Randall's  to  seize  Case's  papers. 

All  they  found  was  a  bit  of  a  diary,  kept  for 
a  good  many  years,  and  all  about  the  price  of 
copra,  and  chickens  being  stolen,  and  that;  and 
the  books  of  the  business  and  the  will  I  told  you 
of  in  the  beginning,  by  both  of  which  the  whole 
thing  (stock,  lock,  and  barrel)  appeared  to  be- 
long to  the  Samoa  woman.  It  was  I  that  bought 
her   out   at   a   mighty   reasonable  figure,    for   she 


146  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

was  in  a  hurry  to  get  home.  As  for  Randall  and 
the  black,  they  had  to  tramp;  got  into  some  kind 
of  a  station  on  the  Papa-malulu  side;  did  very 
bad  business,  for  the  truth  is  neither  of  the  pair 
was  fit  for  it,  and  lived  mostly  on  fish,  which  was 
the  means  of  Randall's  death.  It  seems  there  was 
a  nice  shoal  in  one  day,  and  Papa  went  after  them 
with  the  dynamite;  either  the  match  burned  too 
fast,  or  Papa  was  full,  or  both,  but  the  shell  went 
off  (in  the  usual  way)  before  he  threw  it,  and 
where  was  Papa's  hand  ?  Well,  there  's  nothing 
to  hurt  in  that ;  the  islands  up  north  are  all  full  of 
one-handed  men  like  the  parties  in  the  "  Arabian 
Nights ;  "  but  either  Randall  was  too  old,  or  he 
drank  too  much,  and  the  short  and  the  long  of  it 
was  that  he  died.  Pretty  soon  after,  the  nigger 
was  turned  out  of  the  island  for  stealing  from 
white  men,  and  went  off  to  the  west,  where  he 
found  men  of  his  own  colour,  in  case  he  liked  that, 
and  the  men  of  his  own  colour  took  and  ate  him 
at  some  kind  of  a  corroborree,  and  I  'm  sure  I 
hope  he  was  to  their  fancy! 

So  there  was  I,  left  alone  in  my  glory  at  Falesa ; 


THE    BEACH    OF    FALESA    147 

and  when  the  schooner  came  round  I  filled  her  up, 
and  gave  her  a  deck  cargo  half  as  high  as  the  house. 
I  must  say  Mr.  Tarleton  did  the  right  thing  by  us; 
but  he  took  a  meanish  kind  of  a  revenge. 

"  Now,  Mr.  Wiltshire,"  said  he,  "  I  've  put  you 
all  square  with  everybody  here.  It  was  n't  difficult 
to  do,  Case  being  gone ;  but  I  have  done  it,  ^nd  given 
my  pledge  besides  that  you  will  deal  fairly  with  the 
natives.    I  must  ask  you  to  keep  my  word." 

Well,  so  I  did.  I  used  to  be  bothered  about 
my  balances,  but  I  reasoned  it  out  this  way.  We 
all  have  queerish  balances,  and  the  natives  all 
know  it  and  water  their  copra  in  a  proportion  so 
that  it 's  fair  all  round ;  but  the  truth  is,  it  did  use 
to  bother  me,  and,  though  I  did  well  in  Falesa,  I 
was  half  glad  when  the  firm  moved  me  on  to 
another  station,  where  I  was  under  no  kind  of  a 
pledge  and  could  look  my  balances  in  the  face. 

As  for  the  old  lady,  you  know  her  as  well  as 
I  do.  She 's  only  the  one  fault.  If  you  don't 
keep  your  eye  lifting  she  would  give  away  the 
roof  ofif  the  station.  Well,  it  seems  it 's  natural 
in  Kanakas.     She  's  turned  a  powerful  big  woman 


148  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

now,  and  could  throw  a  London  bobby  over  her 
shoulder.  But  that 's  natural  in  Kanakas  too,  and 
there  's  no  manner  of  doubt  that  she  's  an  A  i 
wife. 

Mr.  Tarleton  's  gone  home,  his  trick  being  over. 
He  was  the  best  missionary  I  ever  struck,  and 
now,  it  seems,  he  's  parsonising  down  Somerset 
way.  Well,  that 's  best  for  him ;  he  '11  have  no 
Kanakas  there  to  get  luny  over. 

My  public-house?  Not  a  bit  of  it,  nor  ever 
likely.  I  'm  stuck  here,  I  fancy.  I  don't  like  to 
leave  the  kids,  you  see :  and  —  there 's  no  use 
talking  —  they  're  better  here  than  what  they 
would  be  in  a  white  man's  country,  though  Ben 
took  the  eldest  up  to  Auckland,  where  he  's  being 
schooled  with  the  best.  But  what  bothers  me  is 
the  girls.  They  're  only  half-castes,  of  course  j 
I  know  that  as  well  as  you  do,  and  there  's  nobody 
thinks  less  of  half-castes  than  I  do ;  but  they  're 
mine,  and  about  all  I  've  got.  I  can't  reconcile 
my  mind  to  their  taking  up  with  Kanakas,  and 
I  'd  like  to  know  where  I  'm  to  find  the  whites  ? 


THE    BOTTLE    IMP 


THE  BOTTLE  IMP 

Note.  —  Any  student  of  that  very  unliterary  product,  the  Eng- 
lish drama  of  the  early  part  of  the  century,  will  here  recognise  the 
name  and  the  root  idea  of  a  piece  once  rendered  popular  by  the 
redoubtable  B.  Smith.  The  root  idea  is  there  and  identical,  and 
yet  I  believe  I  have  made  it  a  new  thing.  And  the  fact  that  the 
tale  has  been  designed  and  written  for  a  Polynesian  audience  may 
lend  it  some  extraneous  interest  nearer  home.  —  R.  L.  S. 

THERE  was  a  man  of  the  island  of 
Hawaii,  whom  I  shall  call  Keawe;  for 
the  truth  is,  he  still  lives,  and  his  name 
must  be  kept  secret;  but  the  place  of  his  birth 
was  not  far  from  Honaunau,  where  the  bones  of 
Keawe  the  Great  lie  hidden  in  a  cave.  This  man 
was  poor,  brave,  and  active;  he  could  read  and 
write  like  a  schoolmaster;  he  was  a  first-rate 
mariner  besides,  sailed  for  some  time  in  the  isl- 
and steamers,  and  steered  a  whale-boat  on  the 
Hamakua  coast.  At  length  it  came  in  Keawe's 
mind  to  have  a  sight  of  the  great  world  and  for- 

Copyright,  1892,  1893,  ^895,  by  Robert  Louis  Stevenson. 


152  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

eign  cities,  and  he  shipped  on  a  vessel  bound  to 
San  Francisco. 

This  is  a  fine  town,  with  a  fine  harbour,  and 
rich  people  uncountable;  and,  in  particular,  there 
is  one  hill  which  is  covered  with  palaces.  Upon 
this  hill  Keawe  was  one  day  taking  a  walk,  with 
his  pocket  full  of  money,  viewing  the  great  houses 
upon  either  hand  with  pleasure.  ''  What  fine 
houses  there  are !  "  he  was  thinking,  "  and  how 
happy  must  these  people  be  who  dwell  in  them, 
and  take  no  care  for  the  morrow !  "  The  thought 
was  in  his  mind  when  he  came  abreast  of  a  house 
that  was  smaller  than  some  others,  but  all  finished 
and  beautified  like  a  toy;  the  steps  of  that  house 
shone  like  silver,  and  the  borders  of  the  garden 
bloomed  like  garlands,  and  the  windows  were 
bright  like  diamonds;  and  Keawe  stopped  and 
wondered  at  the  excellence  of  all  he  saw.  So 
stopping,  he  was  aware  of  a  man  that  looked 
forth  upon  him  through  a  window,  so  clear,  that 
Keawe  could  see  him  as  you  see  a  fish  in  a  pool 
upon  the  reef.  The  man  was  elderly,  with  a  bald 
head  and  a  black  beard;  and  his  face  was  heavy 


THE    BOTTLE    IMP  153 

with  sorrow,  and  he  bitterly  sighed.  And  the 
truth  of  it  is,  that  as  Keawe  looked  in  upon  the 
man,  and  the  man  looked  out  upon  Keawe,  each 
envied  the  other. 

All  of  a  sudden  the  man  smiled  and  nodded, 
and  beckoned  Keawe  to  enter,  and  met  him  at 
the  door  of  the  house. 

"  This  is  a  fine  house  of  mine,"  said  the  man, 
and  bitterly  sighed.  "  Would  you  not  care  to 
view  the  chambers?" 

So  he  led  Keawe  all  over  it,  from  the  cellar  to 
the  roof,  and  there  was  nothing  there  that  was  not 
perfect  of  its  kind,  and  Keawe  was  astonished. 

"  Truly,"  said  Keawe,  "  this  is  a  beautiful  house; 
if  I  lived  in  the  like  of  it,  I  should  be  laughing 
all  day  long.  How  comes  it,  then,  that  you  should 
be  sighing?  " 

"  There  is  no  reason,"  said  the  man,  "  why  you 
should  not  have  a  house  in  all  points  similar  to 
this,  and  finer,  if  you  wish.  You  have  some 
money,  I  suppose  ?  " 

"I  have  fifty  dollars,"  said  Keawe;  "but  a 
house  like  this  will  cost  more  than  fifty  dollars." 


154  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

The  man  made  a  computation.  "  I  am  sorry 
you  have  no  more,"  said  he,  "  for  it  may  raise 
you  trouble  in  the  future;  but  it  shall  be  yours 
at  fifty  dollars." 

"  The  house?  "  asked  Keawe. 

"  No,  not  the  house,"  replied  the  man ;  "  but 
the  bottle.  For,  I  must  tell  you,  although  I  ap- 
pear to  you  so  rich  and  fortunate,  all  my  fortune, 
and  this  house  itself  and  its  garden,  came  out  of 
a  bottle  not  much  bigger  than  a  pint.     This  is  it." 

And  he  opened  a  lockfast  place,  and  took  out 
a  round-bellied  bottle  with  a  long  neck;  the  glass 
of  it  was  white  like  milk,  with  changing  rainbow 
colours  in  the  grain.  Withinsides  something  ob- 
scurely moved,  like  a  shadow  and  a  fire. 

"  This  is  the  bottle,"  said  the  man ;  and,  when 
Keawe  laughed,  ''You  do  not  believe  me?"  he 
added.  "  Try,  then,  for  yourself.  See  if  you 
can  break  it." 

So  Keawe  took  the  bottle  up  and  dashed  it  on 
the  floor  till  he  was  weary;  but  it  jumped  on  the 
floor  like  a  child's  ball,  and  was  not  injured. 

"  This  is  a  strange  thing,"  said  Keawe.     "  For 


THE    BOTTLE    IMP  155 

by  the  touch  of  it,  as  well  as  by  the  look,  the 
bottle  should  be  of  glass." 

"  Of  glass  it  is,"  replied  the  man,  sighing  more 
heavily  than  ever ;  "  but  the  glass  of  it  was  tem- 
pered in  the  flames  of  hell.  An  imp  lives  in  it, 
and  that  is  the  shadow  we  behold  there  moving; 
or,  so  I  suppose.  If  any  man  buy  this  bottle  the 
imp  is  at  his  command ;  all  that  he  desires  — 
love,  fame,  money,  houses  like  this  house,  ay,  or 
a  city  like  this  city  —  all  are  his  at  the  word 
uttered.  Napoleon  had  this  bottle,  and  by  it  he 
grew  to  be  the  king  of  the  world;  but  he  sold  it 
at  the  last  and  fell.  Captain  Cook  had  this  bottle, 
and  by  it  he  found  his  way  to  so  many  islands; 
but  he,  too,  sold  it,  and  was  slain  upon  Hawaii. 
For,  once  it  is  sold,  the  power  goes  and  the  pro- 
tection; and  unless  a  man  remain  content  with 
what  he  has,  ill  will  befall  him." 

"And  yet  you  talk  of  selling  it  yourself?" 
Keawe  said. 

"  I  have  all  I  wish,  and  I  am  growing  elderly," 
replied  the  man.  ''  There  is  one  thing  the  imp 
cannot  do  —  he  cannot  prolong  life;   and  it  would 


156  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

not  be  fair  to  conceal  from  you  there  is  a  draw- 
back to  the  bottle;  for  if  a  man  die  before  he 
sells  it,   he  must  burn   in  hell   for  ever." 

"  To  be  sure,  that  is  a  drawback  and  no  mis- 
take," cried  Keawe.  "  I  would  not  meddle  with 
the  thing.  I  can  do  without  a  house,  thank  God; 
but  there  is  one  thing  I  could  not  be  doing  with 
one  particle,  and  that  is  to  be  damned." 

"  Dear  me,  you  must  not  run  away  with 
things,"  returned  the  man.  "  All  you  have  to 
do  is  to  use  the  power  of  the  imp  in  moderation, 
and  then  sell  it  to  some  one  else,  as  I  do  to  you, 
and  finish  your  life  in  comfort." 

"  Well,  I  observe  two  things,"  said  Keawe. 
"  All  the  time  you  keep  sighing  like  a  maid  in 
love,  that  is  one;  and,  for  the  other,  you  sell 
this  bottle  very  cheap." 

"  I  have  told  you  already  why  I  sigh,"  said 
the  man.  "  It  is  because  I  fear  my  health  is 
breaking  up;  and,  as  you  said  yourself,  to  die 
and  go  to  the  devil  is  a  pity  for  any  one.  As 
for  why  I  sell  so  cheap,  I  must  explain  to  you 
there  is  a  peculiarity  about  the  bottle.     Long  ago, 


THE    BOTTLE    IMP  157 

when  the  devil  brought  it  first  upon  earth,  it  was 
extremely  expensive,  and  was  sold  first  of  all  to 
Prester  John  for  many  millions  of  dollars;  but 
it  cannot  be  sold  at  all,  unless  sold  at  a  loss.  If 
you  sell  it  for  as  much  as  you  paid  for  it,  back 
it  comes  to  you  again  like  a  homing  pigeon.  It 
follows  that  the  price  has  kept  falling  in  these 
centuries,  and  the  bottle  is  now  remarkably  cheap. 
I  bought  it  myself  from  one  of  my  great  neigh- 
bours on  this  hill,  and  the  price  I  paid  was  only 
ninety  dollars.  I  could  sell  it  for  as  high  as 
eighty-nine  dollars  and  ninety-nine  cents,  but  not 
a  penny  dearer,  or  back  the  thing  must  come  to 
me.  Now,  about  this  there  are  two  bothers. 
First,  when  you  offer  a  bottle  so  singular  for 
eighty-odd  dollars,  people  suppose  you  to  be  jest- 
ing. And  second  —  but  there  is  no  hurry  about 
that  —  and  I  need  not  go  into  it.  Only  remem- 
ber it  must  be  coined  money  that  you  sell  it 
for.'* 

"How  am  I  to  know  that  this  is  all  true?" 
asked  Keawe. 

"  Some  of  it  you  can  try  at  once,"  replied  the 


158  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

man.  '*  Give  me  your  fifty  dollars,  take  the 
bottle,  and  wish  your  fifty  dollars  back  into  your 
pocket.  If  that  does  not  happen,  I  pledge  you 
my  honour  I  will  cry  off  the  bargain  and  re- 
store your  money." 

"You  are  not  deceiving  me?"  said  Keawe. 

The  man  bound  himself  with  a  great  oath. 

"  Well,  I  will  risk  that  much,"  said  Keawe, 
"  for  that  can  do  no  harm,"  and  he  paid  over 
his  money  to  the  man,  and  the  man  handed  him 
the  bottle. 

"  Imp  of  the  bottle,"  said  Keawe,  "  I  want  my 
fifty  dollars  back."  And  sure  enough,  he  had 
scarce  said  the  word  before  his  pocket  was  as 
heavy  as  ever. 

"  To  be  sure  this  is  a  wonderful  bottle,"  said 
Keawe. 

"  And  now  good-morning  to  you,  my  fine  fel- 
low, and  the  devil  go  with  you  for  me,"  said  the 
man. 

"  Hold  on,"  said  Keawe,  "  I  don't  want  any 
more  of  this  fun.     Here,  take  your  bottle  back." 

*'  You  have  bought  it  for  less  than  I  paid  for 


THE    BOTTLE    IMP  159 

it,"  replied  the  man,  rubbing  his  hands.  "  It  is 
yours  now;  and,  for  my  part,  I  am  only  con- 
cerned to  see  the  back  of  you."  And  with  that 
he  rang  for  his  Chinese  servant,  and  had  Keawe 
shown  out  of  the  house. 

Now,  when  Keawe  was  in  the  street,  with  the 
bottle  under  his  arm,  he  began  to  think.  "  If  all 
is  true  about  this  bottle,  I  may  have  made  a  los- 
ing bargain,"  thinks  he.  *'  But,  perhaps  the  man 
was  only  fooling  me."  The  first  thing  he  did  was 
to  count  his  money ;  the  sum  was  exact  —  forty- 
nine  dollars  American  money,  and  one  Chili  piece. 
"  That  looks  like  the  truth,"  said  Keawe.  "  Now 
I  will  try  another  part." 

The  streets  in  that  part  of  the  city  were  as 
clean  as  a  ship's  decks,  and  though  it  was  noon, 
there  were  no  passengers.  Keawe  set  the  bottle 
in  the  gutter  and  walked  away.  Twice  he  looked 
back,  and  there  was  the  milky,  round-bellied 
bottle  where  he  left  it.  A  third  time  he  looked 
back,  and  turned  a  corner;  but  he  had  scarce 
done  so,  when  something  knocked  upon  his  elbow, 
and  behold!     It  was  the  long  neck  sticking  up; 


i6o  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

and,  as  for  the  round  belly,  it  was  jammed  into 
the  pocket  of  his  pilot-coat. 

"  And  that  looks  like  the  truth,"  said  Keawe. 

The  next  thing  he  did  was  to  buy  a  corkscrew 
in  a  shop,  and  go  apart  into  a  secret  place  in  the 
fields.  And  there  he  tried  to  draw  the  cork,  but 
as  often  as  he  put  the  screw  in,  out  it  came  again, 
and  the  cork  as  whole  as  ever. 

"  This  is  some  new  sort  of  cork,"  said  Keawe, 
and  all  at  once  he  began  to  shake  and  sweat,  for 
he  was  afraid  of  that  bottle. 

On  his  way  back  to  the  port-side  he  saw  a  shop 
where  a  man  sold  shells  and  clubs  from  the  wild 
islands,  old  heathen  deities,  old  coined  money, 
pictures  from  China  and  Japan,  and  all  manner 
of  things  that  sailors  bring  in  their  sea-chests. 
And  here  he  had  an  idea.  So  he  went  in  and 
offered  the  bottle  for  a  hundred  dollars.  The 
man  of  the  shop  laughed  at  him  at  first,  and 
offered  him  five;  but,  indeed,  it  was  a  curious 
bottle,  such  glass  was  never  blown  in  any  human 
glassworks,  so  prettily  the  colours  shone  under 
the   milky   white,    and    so   strangely   the    shadow 


THE     BOTTLE     IMP         i6i 

hovered  in  the  midst;  so,  after  he  had  disputed 
awhile  after  the  manner  of  his  kind,  the  shop- 
man gave  Keawe  sixty  silver  dollars  for  the  thing 
and  set  it  on  a  shelf  in  the  midst  of  his  window. 

"  Now,"  said  Keawe,  ''  I  have  sold  that  for 
sixty  which  I  bought  for  fifty  —  or,  to  say  truth, 
a  little  less,  because  one  of  my  dollars  was  from 
Chili.  Now  I  shall  know  the  truth  upon  another 
point." 

So  he  went  back  on  board  his  ship,  and  when 
he  opened  his  chest,  there  was  the  bottle,  and 
had  come  more  quickly  than  himself.  Now 
Keawe  had  a  mate  on  board  whose  name  w^as 
Lopaka. 

''  What  ails  you,"  said  Lopaka,  ''  that  you 
stare  in  your  chest?" 

They  were  alone  in  the  ship's  forecastle,  and 
Keawe  bound  him  to  secrecy,  and  told  all. 

"  This  is  a  very  strange  affair,"  said  Lopaka ; 

"  and   I   fear  you   will   be   in   trouble   about   this 

bottle.     But  there  is  one  point  very  clear  —  that 

you  are  sure  of  the  trouble,  and  you  had  better 

have  the  profit   in   the  bargain.      Make   up  your 

iz 


i62  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

mind  what  you  want  with  it;  give  the  order, 
and  if  it  is  done  as  you  desire,  I  will  buy  the 
bottle  myself;  for  I  have  an  idea  of  my  own 
to  get  a  schooner,  and  go  trading  through  the 
islands." 

"That  is  not  my  idea,"  said  Keawe;  ''but  to 
have  a  beautiful  house  and  garden  on  the  Kona 
Coast,  where  I  was  born,  the  sun  shining  in  at 
the  door,  flowers  in  the  garden,  glass  in  the 
windows,  pictures  on  the  walls,  and  toys  and  fine 
carpets  on  the  tables,  for  all  the  world  like  the 
house  I  was  in  this  day  —  only  a  story  higher, 
and  with  balconies  all  about  like  the  King's 
palace;  and  to  live  there  without  care  and  make 
merry  with  my   friends   and   relatives." 

"  Well,"  said  Lopaka,  '*  let  us  carry  it  back 
with  us  to  Hawaii;  and  if  all  comes  true,  as 
you  suppose,  I  will  buy  the  bottle,  as  I  said,  and 
ask  a  schooner." 

Upon  that  they  were  agreed,  and  it  was  not  long 
before  the  ship  returned  to  Honolulu,  carrying 
Keawe  and  Lopaka,  and  the  bottle.  They  were 
scarce  come  ashore  when  they  met  a  friend  upon 


THE    BOTTLE    IMP  163 

the  beach,  who  began  at  once  to  condole  with 
Keawe. 

''  I  do  not  know  what  I  am  to  be  condoled 
about,"  said  Keawe. 

"  Is  it  possible  you  have  not  heard,"  said  the 
friend,  "  your  uncle  —  that  good  old  man  —  is 
dead,  and  your  cousin  —  that  beautiful  boy  —  was 
drowned  at  sea  ?  " 

Keawe  was  filled  with  sorrow,  and,  beginning 
to  weep  and  to  lament,  he  forgot  about  the  bottle. 
But  Lopaka  was  thinking  to  himself,  and  pres- 
ently, when  Keawe's  grief  was  a  little  abated, 
"  I  have  been  thinking,"  said  Lopaka,  ''  had  not 
your  uncle  lands  in  Hawaii,  in  the  district  of 
Kau?" 

''  No,"  said  Keawe,  ''  not  in  Kau :  they  are  on 
the  mountain-side  —  a  little  be  south  Hookena." 

"These  lands  will  now  be  yours?"  asked 
Lopaka. 

"  And  so  they  will,"  says  Keawe,  and  began 
again  to  lament  for  his  relatives. 

"  No,"  said  Lopaka,  "  do  not  lament  at  present. 
I    have   a   thought    in    my    mind.      How    if   this 


i64  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

should  be  the  doing  of  the  bottle?  For  here  is 
the  place  ready  for  your  house." 

"  If  this  be  so,"  cried  Keawe,  ''  it  is  a  very  ill 
way  to  serve  me  by  killing  my  relatives.  But  it 
may  be,  indeed;  for  it  was  in  just  such  a  station 
that  I  saw  the  house  with  my  mind's  eye." 

"  The  house,  however,  is  not  yet  built,"  said 
Lopaka. 

"  No,  nor  like  to  be ! "  said  Keawe ;  "  for 
though  my  uncle  has  some  coffee  and  ava  and 
bananas,  it  will  not  be  more  than  will  keep  me 
in  comfort;  and  the  rest  of  that  land  is  the  black 
lava." 

"  Let  us  go  to  the  lawyer,"  said  Lopaka ;  "  I 
have  still  this  idea  in  my  mind." 

Now,  when  they  came  to  the  lawyer's,  it  ap- 
peared Keawe's  uncle  had  grown  monstrous  rich 
in  the  last  days,  and  there  was  a  fund  of  money. 

"  And  here  is  the  money  for  the  house ! "  cried 
Lopaka. 

"  If  you  are  thinking  of  a  new  house,"  said  the 
lawyer,  "here  is  the  card  of  a  new  architect,  of 
whom  they  tell  me  great  things." 


THE    BOTTLE    IMP  165 

"Better  and  better!"  cried  Lopaka.  "Here  is 
all  made  plain  for  us.  Let  us  continue  to  obey 
orders." 

So  they  went  to  the  architect,  and  he  had 
drawings  of  houses  on  his  table. 

"  You  want  something  out  of  the  way,"  said 
the  architect.  "How  do  you  like  this?"  and  he 
handed  a  drawing  to  Keawe. 

Now,  when  Keawe  set  eyes  on  the  drawing, 
he  cried  out  aloud,  for  it  was  the  picture  of  his 
thought  exactly  drawn. 

"  I  am  in  for  this  house,"  thought  he.  "  Little 
as  I  like  the  way  it  comes  to  me,  I  am  in  for  it 
now,  and  I  may  as  well  take  the  good  along  with 
the  evil." 

So  he  told  the  architect  all  that  he  wished, 
and  how  he  would  have  that  house  furnished, 
and  about  the  pictures  on  the  wall  and  the  knick- 
knacks  on  the  tables;  and  he  asked  the  man 
plainly  for  how  much  he  would  undertake  the 
whole  affair. 

The  architect  put  many  questions,  and  took  his 
pen  and  made  a  computation;    and  when  he  had 


i66  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

done  he  named  the  very  sum  that  Keawe  had 
inherited. 

Lopaka  and  Keawe  looked  at  one  another  and 
nodded. 

"  It  is  quite  clear,"  thought  Keawe,  "  that  I 
am  to  have  this  house,  whether  or  no.  It  comes 
from  the  devil,  and  I  fear  I  will  get  little  good 
by  that;  and  of  one  thing  I  am  sure,  I  will 
make  no  more  wishes  as  long  as  I  have  this 
bottle.  But  with  the  house  I  am  saddled,  and  I 
may  as  well  take  the  good  along  with  the  evil." 

So  he  made  his  terms  with  the  architect,  and 
they  signed  a  paper;  and  Keawe  and  Lopaka 
took  ship  again  and  sailed  to  Australia;  for  it 
was  concluded  between  them  they  should  not  in- 
terfere at  all,  but  leave  the  architect  and  the 
bottle-imp  to  build  and  to  adorn  that  house  at 
their  own  pleasure. 

The  voyage  was  a  good  voyage,  only  all  the 
time  Keawe  was  holding  in  his  breath,  for  he 
had  sworn  he  would  utter  no  more  wishes,  and 
take  no  more  favours,  from  the  devil.  The  time 
was  up  when  they  got  back.     The  architect  told 


THE    BOTTLE    IMP  167 

them  that  the  house  was  ready,  and  Keawe  and 
Lopaka  took  a  passage  in  the  Hall,  and  went 
down  Kona  way  to  view  the  house,  and  see  if  all 
had  been  done  fitly  according  to  the  thought  that 
was  in  Keawe's  mind. 

Now,  the  house  stood  on  the  mountain-side, 
visible  to  ships.  Above,  the  forest  ran  up  into  the 
clouds  of  rain;  below,  the  black  lava  fell  in  cliffs, 
where  the  kings  of  old  lay  buried.  A  garden 
bloomed  about  that  house  with  every  hue  of 
flowers ;  and  there  was  an  orchard  of  papaia  on  the 
one  hand  and  an  orchard  of  herdprint  on  the  other, 
and  right  in  front,  toward  the  sea,  a  ship's  mast 
had  been  rigged  up  and  bore  a  flag.  As  for  the 
house,  it  was  three  stories  high,  with  great  cham- 
bers and  broad  balconies  on  each.  The  windows 
were  of  glass,  so  excellent  that  it  was  as  clear  as 
water  and  as  bright  as  day.  All  manner  of  furni- 
ture adorned  the  chambers.  Pictures  hung  upon 
the  wall  in  golden  frames  —  pictures  of  ships,  and 
men  fighting,  and  of  the  most  beautiful  women, 
and  of  singular  places;  nowhere  in  the  world  are 
there    pictures    of    so    bright    a    colour    as    those 


i68  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

Keawe  found  hanging  in  his  house.  As  for  the 
knick-knacks  they  were  extraordinarily  fine :  chim- 
ing clocks  and  musical  boxes,  little  men  with  nod- 
ding heads,  books  filled  with  pictures,  weapons 
of  price  from  all  quarters  of  the  world,  and  the 
most  elegant  puzzles  to  entertain  the  leisure  of  a 
solitary  man.  And  as  no  one  would  care  to  live 
in  such  chambers,  only  to  walk  through  and  view 
them,  the  balconies  were  made  so  broad  that  a 
whole  town  might  have  lived  upon  them  in  delight ; 
and  Keawe  knew  not  which  to  prefer,  whether  the 
back  porch,  where  you  get  the  land-breeze,  and 
looked  upon  the  orchards  and  the  flowers,  or  the 
front  balcony,  where  you  could  drink  the  wind  of 
the  sea,  and  look  down  the  steep  wall  of  the  moun- 
tain and  see  the  Hall  going  by  once  a  week  or  so 
between  Hookena  and  the  hills  of  Pele,  or  the 
schooners  plying  up  the  coast  for  wood  and  ava 
and  bananas. 

When  they  had  viewed  all,  Keawe  and  Lopaka 
sat  on  the  porch. 

"  Well,"  asked  Lopaka,  "  is  it  all  as  you  de- 
signed? " 


THE    BOTTLE    IMP  169 

"  Words  cannot  utter  it,"  said  Keawe.  "  It 
is  better  than  I  dreamed,  and  I  am  sick  with 
satisfaction." 

"  There  is  but  one  thing  to  consider,"  said 
Lopaka,  "  all  this  may  be  quite  natural,  and  the 
bottle-imp  have  nothing  whatever  to  say  to  it. 
If  I  were  to  buy  the  bottle,  and  got  no  schooner 
after  all,  I  should  have  put  my  hand  in  the  fire  for 
nothing.  I  gave  you  my  word,  I  know ;  but  yet 
I  think  you  would  not  grudge  me  one  more 
proof." 

"  I  have  sworn  I  would  take  no  more  favours," 
said  Keawe.    "  I  have  gone  already  deep  enough." 

"  This  is  no  favour  I  am  thinking  of,"  replied 
Lopaka.  ''  It  is  only  to  see  the  imp  himself. 
There  is  nothing  to  be  gained  by  that,  and  so 
nothing  to  be  ashamed  of,  and  yet,  if  I  once  saw 
him,  I  should  be  sure  of  the  whole  matter.  So 
indulge  me  so  far,  and  let  me  see  the  imp;  and, 
after  that,  here  is  the  money  in  my  hand,  and  I 
will  buy  it." 

"  There  is  only  one  thing  I  am  afraid  of," 
said   Keawe.      "  The   imp   may   be   very   ugly   to 


I70  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

view,  and  if  you  once  set  eyes  upon  him  you 
might  be  very   undesirous   of  the  bottle." 

"I  am  a  man  of  my  word,"  said  Lopaka. 
"  And  here  is  the  money  betwixt  us." 

"  Very  well,"  replied  Keawe,  "  I  have  a  curi- 
osity myself.  So  come,  let  us  have  one  look  at 
you,   Mr.   Imp." 

Now  as  soon  as  that  was  said,  the  imp  looked 
out  of  the  bottle,  and  in  again,  swift  as  a  lizard; 
and  there  sat  Keawe  and  Lopaka  turned  to  stone. 
The  night  had  quite  come,  before  either  found  a 
thought  to  say  or  voice  to  say  it  with;  and  then 
Lopaka  pushed  the  money  over  and  took  the 
bottle. 

"  I  am  a  man  of  my  word,"  said  he,  "  and  had 
need  to  be  so,  or  I  would  not  touch  this  bottle 
with  my  foot.  Well,  I  shall  get  my  schooner 
and  a  dollar  or  two  for  my  pocket;  and  then  I 
will  be  rid  of  this  devil  as  fast  as  I  can.  For 
to  tell  you  the  plain  truth,  the  look  of  him  has 
cast  me  down." 

"  Lopaka,"  said  Keawe,  "  do  not  you  think  any 
worse  of  me  than  you  can  help;    I  know   it   is 


THE    BOTTLE    IMP  171 

night,  and  the  roads  bad,  and  the  pass  by  the 
tombs  an  ill  place  to  go  by  so  late,  but  I  declare 
since  I  have  seen  that  little  face,  I  cannot  eat 
or  sleep  or  pray  till  it  is  gone  from  me.  I  will 
give  you  a  lantern,  and  a  basket  to  put  the  bottle 
in,  and  any  picture  or  fine  thing  in  all  my  house 
that  takes  your  fancy;  and  be  gone  at  once,  and 
go  sleep  at  Hookena  with  Nahinu." 

"  Keawe,"  said  Lopaka,  "  many  a  man  would 
take  this  ill;  above  all,  when  I  am  doing  you  a 
turn  so  friendly,  as  to  keep  my  word  and  buy 
the  bottle;  and  for  that  matter,  the  night  and 
the  dark,  and  the  way  by  the  tombs,  must  be  all 
tenfold  more  dangerous  to  a  man  with  such  a 
sin  upon  his  conscience,  and  such  a  bottle  under 
his  arm.  But  for  my  part,  I  am  so  extremely 
terrified  myself,  I  have  not  the  heart  to  blame 
you.  Here  I  go,  then ;  and  I  pray  God  you  may 
be  happy  in  your  house,  and  I  fortunate  with 
my  schooner,  and  both  get  to  heaven  in  the  end 
in  spite  of  the  devil  and  his  bottle." 

So  Lopaka  went  down  the  mountain;  and 
Keawe  stood  in  his   front  balcony,   and   listened 


172  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

to  the  clink  of  the  horse's  shoes,  and  watched 
the  lantern  go  shining  down  the  path,  and  along 
the  cliff  of  caves  where  the  old  dead  are  buried; 
and  all  the  time  he  trembled  and  clasped  his 
hands,  and  prayed  for  his  friend,  and  gave  glory 
to  God  that  he  himself  was  escaped  out  of  that 
trouble. 

But  the  next  day  came  very  brightly,  and  that 
new  house  of  his  was  so  delightful  to  behold 
that  he  forgot  his  terrors.  One  day  followed  an- 
other, and  Keawe  dwelt  there  in  perpetual  joy. 
He  had  his  place  on  the  back  porch;  it  was 
there  he  ate  and  lived,  and  read  the  stories  in 
the  Honolulu  newspapers;  but  when  any  one 
came  by  they  would  go  in  and  view  the  cham- 
bers and  the  pictures.  And  the  fame  of  the 
house  went  far  and  wide;  it  was  called  Ka-Hale 
Nui  —  the  Great  House  —  in  all  Kona ;  and 
sometimes  the  Bright  House,  for  Keawe  kept  a 
Chinaman,  who  was  all  day  dusting  and  furbish- 
ing; and  the  glass,  and  the  gilt,  and  the  fine 
stuffs,  and  the  pictures,  shone  as  bright  as  the 
morning.     As  for  Keawe  himself,  he  could  not 


THE    BOTTLE    IMP  173 

walk  in  the  chambers  without  singing,  his  heart 
was  so  enlarged;  and  when  ships  sailed  by 
upon  the  sea,  he  would  fly  his  colours  on  the 
mast. 

So  time  went  by,  until  one  day  Keawe  went 
upon  a  visit  as  far  as  Kailua  to  certain  of  his 
friends.  There  he  was  well  feasted;  and  left  as 
soon  as  he  could  the  next  morning,  and  rode 
hard,  for  he  was  impatient  to  behold  his  beauti- 
ful house;  and,  besides,  the  night  then  coming 
on  was  the  night  in  which  the  dead  of  old  days 
go  abroad  in  the  sides  of  Kona;  and  having 
already  meddled  with  the  devil,  he  was  the  more 
chary  of  meeting  with  the  dead.  A  little  beyond 
Honaunau,  looking  far  ahead,  he  was  aware  of  a 
woman  bathing  in  the  edge  of  the  sea;  and  she 
seemed  a  well-grown  girl,  but  he  thought  no  more 
of  it.  Then  he  saw  her  white  shift  flutter  as  she 
put  it  on,  and  then  her  red  holoku;  and  by  the 
time  he  came  abreast  of  her  she  was  done  with 
her  toilet,  and  had  come  up  from  the  sea,  and 
stood  by  the  track-side  in  her  red  holoku,  and 
she  was  all  freshened  with  the  bath,  and  her  eyes 


174  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

shone  and  were  kind.  Now  Keawe  no  sooner 
beheld  her  than  he  drew   rein. 

"  I  thought  I  knew  every  one  in  this  country," 
said  he.  "  How  comes  it  that  I  do  not  know 
you?" 

"  I  am  Kokua,  daughter  of  Kiano,"  said  the 
girl,  "  and  I  have  just  returned  from  Oahu. 
Who  are  you  ?  " 

"  I  will  tell  you  who  I  am  in  a  little,"  said 
Keawe,  dismounting  from  his  horse,  "  but  not  now. 
For  I  have  a  thought  in  my  mind,  and  if  you 
knew  who  I  was,  you  might  have  heard  of  me, 
and  would  not  give  me  a  true  answer.  But  tell 
me,  first  of  all,  one  thing :    are  you  married  ?  " 

At  this  Kokua  laughed  out  aloud.  "  It  is  you 
who  ask  questions,"  she  said.  "  Are  you  married 
yourself?  " 

*'  Indeed,  Kokua,  I  am  not,"  replied  Keawe, 
"  and  never  thought  to  be  until  this  hour.  But 
here  is  the  plain  truth.  I  have  met  you  here  at 
the  roadside,  and  I  saw  your  eyes,  which  are  like 
the  stars,  and  my  heart  went  to  you  as  swift  as 
a  bird.     And  so  now,  if  you  want  none  of  me, 


THE    BOTTLE    IMP  175 

say  so,  and  I  will  go  on  to  my  own  place;  but 
if  you  think  me  no  worse  than  any  other  young 
man,  say  so,  too,  and  I  will  turn  aside  to  your 
father's  for  the  night,  and  to-morrow  I  will  talk 
with  the  good  man." 

Kokua  said  never  a  w^ord,  but  she  looked  at 
the  sea  and  laughed. 

"  Kokua,"  said  Keawe,  "  if  you  say  nothing, 
I  will  take  that  for  the  good  answer;  so  let  us 
be  stepping  to  your  father's  door." 

She  went  on  ahead  of  him,  still  without  speech ; 
only  sometimes  she  glanced  back  and  glanced 
away  again,  and  she  kept  the  strings  of  her  hat 
in  her  mouth. 

Now,  W'hen  they  had  come  to  the  door,  Kiano 
came  out  on  his  veranda,  and  cried  out  and  wel- 
comed Keawe  by  name.  At  that  the  girl  looked 
over,  for  the  fame  of  the  great  house  had  come 
to  her  ears;  and,  to  be  sure,  it  was  a  great 
temptation.  All  that  evening  they  were  very 
merry  together;  and  the  girl  was  as  bold  as 
brass  under  the  eyes  of  her  parents,  and  made 
a  mark  of  Keawe,  for  she  had  a  quick  wit.     The 


176  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

next  day  he  had  a  word  with  Kiano,  and  found 
the  girl  alone. 

"  Kokua,"  said  he,  *'  you  made  a  mark  of  me 
all  the  evening;  and  it  is  still  time  to  bid  me 
go.  I  would  not  tell  you  who  I  was,  because 
I  have  so  fine  a  house,  and  I  feared  you  would 
think  too  much  of  that  house  and  too  little  of 
the  man  that  loves  you.  Now  you  know  all, 
and  if  you  wish  to  have  seen  the  last  of  me,  say 
so  at  once." 

"  No,"  said  Kokua,  but  this  time  she  did  not 
laugh,  nor  did   Keawe  ask   for  more. 

This  was  the  wooing  of  Keawe;  things  had 
gone  quickly;  but  so  an  arrow  goes,  and  the 
ball  of  a  rifle  swifter  still,  and  yet  both  may 
strike  the  target.  Things  had  gone  fast,  but  they 
had  gone  far  also,  and  the  thought  of  Keawe 
rang  in  the  maiden's  head;  she  heard  his  voice 
in  the  breach  of  the  surf  upon  the  lava,  and  for 
this  young  man  that  she  had  seen  but  twice  she 
would  have  left  father  and  mother  and  her  na- 
tive islands.  As  for  Keawe  himself,  his  horse 
flew  up  the  path  of  the  mountain  under  the  cliff 


THE    BOTTLE    IMP  177 

of  tombs,  and  the  sound  of  the  hoofs,  and  the 
sound  of  Keawe  singing  to  himself  for  pleasure, 
echoed  in  the  caverns  of  the  dead.  He  came  to 
the  Bright  House,  and  still  he  was  singing.  He 
sat  and  ate  in  the  broad  balcony,  and  the  China- 
man wondered  at  his  master,  to  hear  how  he 
sang  between  the  mouthfuls.  The  sun  went  down 
into  the  sea,  and  the  night  came;  and  Keawe 
walked  the  balconies  by  lamplight,  high  on  the 
mountains,  and  the  voice  of  his  singing  startled 
men  on  ships. 

''  Here  am  I  now  upon  my  high  place,"  he 
said  to  himself.  ''Life  may  be  no  better;  this 
is  the  mountain  top;  and  all  shelves  about  me 
toward  the  worse.  For  the  first  time  I  will  light 
up  the  chambers,  and  bathe  in  my  fine  bath  with 
the  hot  water  and  the  cold,  and  sleep  above  in 
the  bed  of  my  bridal  chamber." 

So  the  Chinaman  had  word,  and  he  must  rise 
from  sleep  and  light  the  furnaces;  and  as  he 
walked  below,  beside  the  boilers,  he  heard  his 
master  singing  and  rejoicing  above  him  in  the 
lighted  chambers.     When  the  water  began  to  be 


lyS  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

hot  the  Chinaman  cried  to  his  master:  and 
Keawe  went  into  the  bath-room;  and  the  China- 
man heard  him  sing  as  he  filled  the  marble 
basin;  and  heard  him  sing,  and  the  singing 
broken,  as  he  undressed;  until  of  a  sudden,  the 
song  ceased.  The  Chinaman  listened,  and  lis- 
tened; he  called  up  the  house  to  Keawe  to  ask 
if  all  were  well,  and  Keawe  answered  him 
"Yes,"  and  bade  him  go  to  bed;  but  there  was 
no  more  singing  in  the  Bright  House;  and  all 
night  long  the  Chinaman  heard  his  master's 
feet  go  round  and  round  the  balconies  without 
repose. 

Now,  the  truth  of  it  was  this:  as  Keawe  un- 
dressed for  his  bath,  he  spied  upon  his  flesh  a 
patch  like  a  patch  of  lichen  on  a  rock,  and  it  was 
then  that  he  stopped  singing.  For  he  knew  the 
likeness  of  that  patch,  and  knew  that  he  was 
fallen  in  the  Chinese  Evil. 

Now,  it  is  a  sad  thing  for  any  man  to  fall  into 
this  sickness.  And  it  would  be  a  sad  thing  for 
any  one  to  leave  a  house  so  beautiful  and  so 
commodious,  and  depart  from  all  his  friends  to 


THE    BOTTLE    IMP  179 

the  north  coast  of  Molokai,  between  the  mighty 
diff  and  the  sea-breakers.  But  what  was  that 
to  the  case  of  the  man  Keawe,  he  who  had  met 
his  love  but  yesterday,  and  won  her  but  that 
morning,  and  now  saw  all  his  hopes  break,  in 
a  moment,  like  a  piece  of  glass? 

Awhile  he  sat  upon  the  edge  of  the  bath,  then 
sprang,  with  a  cry,  and  ran  outside;  and  to 
and  fro,  to  and  fro,  along  the  balcony,  like  one 
despairing. 

"  Very  willingly  could  I  leave  Hawaii,  the  home 
of  my  fathers,"  Keawe  was  thinking.  "  Very 
lightly  could  I  leave  my  house,  the  high-placed, 
the  many-windowed,  here  upon  the  mountains. 
Very  bravely  could  I  go  to  Molokai,  to  Kalau- 
papa  by  the  cliffs,  to  live  with  the  smitten  and 
to  sleep  there,  far  from  my  fathers.  But  what 
wrong  have  I  done,  what  sin  lies  upon  my  soul, 
that  I  should  have  encountered  Kokua  coming 
cool  from  the  sea-water  in  the  evening?  Kokua, 
the  soul  ensnarer!  Kokua,  the  light  of  my  life! 
Her  may  I  never  wed,  her  may  I  look  upon  no 
longer,  her  may  I  no  more  handle  with  my  lov- 


i8o  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

ing  hand;  and  it  is  for  this,  it  is  for  you,  O 
Kokua !    that  I  pour  my  lamentations !  " 

Now  you  are  to  observe  what  sort  of  a  man 
Keawe  was,  for  he  might  have  dwelt  there  in  the 
Bright  House  for  years,  and  no  one  been  the  wiser 
of  his  sickness;  but  he  reckoned  nothing  of  that, 
if  he  must  lose  Kokua.  And  again  he  might  have 
wed  Kokua  even  as  he  was;  and  so  many  would 
have  done,  because  they  have  the  souls  of  pigs; 
but  Keawe  loved  the  maid  manfully,  and  he  would 
do  her  no  hurt  and  bring  her  in  no  danger. 

A  little  beyond  the  midst  of  the  night,  there  came 
in  his  mind  the  recollection  of  that  bottle.  He 
went  round  to  the  back  porch,  and  called  to  mem- 
ory the  day  when  the  devil  had  looked  forth;  and 
at  the  thought  ice  ran  in  his  veins. 

''  A  dreadful  thing  is  the  bottle,"  thought  Ke- 
awe, "  and  dreadful  is  the  imp,  and  it  is  a  dread- 
ful thing  to  risk  the  flames  of  hell.  But  what 
other  hope  have  I  to  cure  my  sickness  or  to  wed 
Kokua?  What!"  he  thought,  "would  I  beard 
the  devil  once,  only  to  get  me  a  house,  and  not 
face  him  again  to  win  Kokua?" 


THE    BOTTLE    IMP  i8i 

Thereupon  he  called  to  mind  it  was  the  next 
day  the  Hall  went  by  on  her  return  to  Honolulu. 
''  There  must  I  go  first,"  he  thought,  ''  and  see 
Lopaka.  For  the  best  hope  that  I  have  now  is 
to  find  that  same  bottle  I  was  so  pleased  to  be 
rid  of." 

Never  a  wink  could  he  sleep;  the  food  stuck  in 
his  throat;  but  he  sent  a  letter  to  Kiano,  and 
about  the  time  when  the  steamer  would  be  com- 
ing, rode  down  beside  the  cliff  of  the  tombs.  It 
rained;  his  horse  went  heavily;  he  looked  up  at 
the  black  mouths  of  the  caves,  and  he  envied  the 
dead  that  slept  there  and  were  done  with  trouble; 
and  called  to  mind  how  he  had  galloped  by  the 
day  before,  and  was  astonished.  So  he  came 
down  to  Hookena,  and  there  was  all  the  country 
gathered  for  the  steamer  as  usual.  In  the  shed 
before  the  store  they  sat  and  jested  and  passed 
the  news;  but  there  was  no  matter  of  speech  in 
Keawe's  bosom,  and  he  sat  in  their  midst  and 
looked  w^ithout  on  the  rain  falling  on  the  houses, 
and  the  surf  beating  among  the  rocks,  and  the 
sighs  arose  in  his  throat. 


i82  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

"  Keawe  of  the  Bright  House  is  out  of  spirits," 
said  one  to  another.  Indeed,  and  so  he  was,  and 
httle  wonder. 

Then  the  Hall  came,  and  the  whale-boat  carried 
him  on  board.  The  after-part  of  the  ship  was  full 
of  Haoles  —  whites  —  who  had  been  to  visit  the 
volcano,  as  their  custom  is;  and  the  midst  wa? 
crowded  with  Kanakas,  and  the  fore-part  with  wild 
bulls  from  Hilo  and  horses  from  Kau ;  but  Keawe 
sat  apart  from  all  in  his  sorrow,  and  watched  for 
the  house  of  Kiano.  There  it  sat  low  upon  the 
shore  in  the  black  rocks,  and  shaded  by  the  coron 
palms,  and  there  by  the  door  was  a  red  holoku, 
no  greater  than  a  fly,  and  going  to  and  fro  with 
a  fly's  busyness.  "  Ah,  queen  of  my  heart,"  he 
cried,  ''  I  '11  venture  my  dear  soul  to  win  you !  " 

Soon  after  darkness  fell  and  the  cabins  were 
lit  up,  and  the  Haoles  sat  and  played  at  the  cards 
and  drank  whiskey  as  their  custom  is;  but  Keawe 
walked  the  deck  all  night;  and  all  the  next  day, 
as  they  steamed  under  the  lea  of  Maui  or  of 
Molokai,  he  was  still  pacing  to  and  fro  like  a 
wild  animal  in  a  menagerie. 


THE    BOTTLE    IMP  183 

Toward  evening  they  passed  Diamond  Head, 
and  came  to  the  pier  of  Honolulu.  Keawe  stepped 
out  among  the  crowd  and  began  to  ask  for  Lo- 
paka.  It  seemed  he  had  become  the  owner  of 
a  schooner  —  none  better  in  the  islands  —  and  was 
gone  upon  an  adventure  as  far  as  Pola-Pola  or 
Kahiki ;  so  there  was  no  help  to  be  looked  for 
from  Lopaka.  Keawe  called  to  mind  a  friend  of 
his,  a  lawyer  in  the  town  (I  must  not  tell  his 
name),  and  inquired  of  him.  They  said  he  was 
grown  suddenly  rich,  and  had  a  fine  new  house 
upon  Waikiki  shore;  and  this  put  a  thought  in 
Keawe's  head,  and  he  called  a  hack  and  drove  to 
the  lawyer's  house. 

The  house  was  all  brand  new,  and  the  trees 
in  the  garden  no  greater  than  walking-sticks,  and 
the  lawyer,  when  he  came,  had  the  air  of  a  man 
well  pleased. 

"  What  can  I  do  to  serve  you  ?  "  said  the  lawyer. 

*'  You  are  a  friend  of  Lopaka's,"  replied  Ke- 
awe, "  and  Lopaka  purchased  from  me  a  certain 
piece  of  goods  that  I  thought  you  might  enable 
me  to  trace." 


i84  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

The  lawyer's  face  became  very  dark.  "  I  do 
not  profess  to  misunderstand  you,  Mr.  Keawe," 
said  he,  "  though  this  is  an  ugly  business  to  be 
stirring  in.  You  may  be  sure  I  know  nothing, 
but  yet  I  have  a  guess,  and  if  you  would  apply 
in  a  certain  quarter  I  think  you  might  have 
news." 

And  he  named  the  name  of  a  man,  which,  again, 
I  had  better  not  repeat.  So  it  was  for  days,  and 
Keawe  went  from  one  to  another,  finding  every- 
where new  clothes  and  carriages,  and  fine  new 
houses  and  men  everywhere  in  great  content- 
ment, although,  to  be  sure,  when  he  hinted  at  his 
business  their  faces  would  cloud  over. 

"  No  doubt  I  am  upon  the  track,"  thought 
Keawe.  "  These  new  clothes  and  carriages  are 
all  the  gifts  of  the  little  imp,  and  these  glad  faces 
are  the  faces  of  men  who  have  taken  their  profit 
and  got  rid  of  the  accursed  thing  in  safety. 
When  I  see  pale  cheeks  and  hear  sighing,  I  shall 
know  that  I  am  near  the  bottle." 

So  it  befell  at  last  that  he  was  recommended 
to  a  Haole  in  Beritania  Street.     When  he  came 


THE    BOTTLE    IMP  185 

to  the  door,  about  the  hour  of  the  evening  meal, 
there  were  the  usual  marks  of  the  new  house, 
and  the  young  garden,  and  the  electric  light  shin- 
ing in  the  windows;  but  when  the  owner  came, 
a  shock  of  hope  and  fear  ran  through  Keawe; 
for  here  was  a  young  man,  white  as  a  corpse,  and 
black  about  the  eyes,  the  hair  shedding  from  his 
head,  and  such  a  look  in  his  countenance  as  a  man 
may  have  when  he  is  waiting  for  the  gallows. 

"  Here  it  is,  to  be  sure,"  thought  Keawe,  and 
so  with  this  man  he  noways  veiled  his  errand. 
''  I  am  come  to  buy  the  bottle,"  said  he. 

At  the  word,  the  young  Haole  of  Beritania 
Street  reeled  against  the  wall. 

"  The  bottle !  "  he  gasped.  "  To  buy  the  bottle !  " 
Then  he  seemed  to  choke,  and  seizing  Keawe  by 
the  arm,  carried  him  into  a  room  and  poured  out 
wine  in  two  glasses. 

"  Here  is  my  respects,"  said  Keawe,  who  had 
been  much  about  with  Haoles  in  his  time.  **  Yes,'* 
he  added,  "  I  am  come  to  buy  the  bottle.  What 
is  the  price  by  now?" 

At  that  word  the  young  man  let  his  glass  slip 


i86  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

through  his  fingers,  and  looked  upon  Keawe  Hke 
a  ghost. 

"  The  price,"  says  he ;  *'  the  price !  You  do  not 
know  the  price?  " 

"  It  is  for  that  I  am  asking  you,"  returned 
Keawe.  "  But  why  are  you  so  much  concerned  ? 
Is  there  anything  wrong  about  the  price?" 

'*  It  has  dropped  a  great  deal  in  value  since 
your  time,  Mr.  Keawx,"  said  the  young  man, 
stammering. 

"  Well,  well,  I  shall  have  the  less  to  pay  for 
it,"  says  Keawe.     "  How  much  did  it  cost  you?  " 

The  young  man  was  as  white  as  a  sheet.  "  Two 
cents,"  said  he. 

"What?"  cried  Keawe,  "two  cents?  Why, 
then,  you  can  only  sell  it  for  one.     And  he  who 

buys   it "      The   words   died   upon   Keawe's 

tongue;  he  who  bought  it  could  never  sell  it 
again,  the  bottle  and  the  bottle  imp  must  abide 
with  him  until  he  died,  and  when  he  died  must 
carry  him  to  the  red  end  of  hell. 

The  young  man  of  Beritania  Street  fell  upon 
his  knees.     "For  God's  sake,  buy  it!"  he  cried. 


THE    BOTTLE    IMP  187 

"  You  can  have  all  my  fortune  in  the  bargain. 
I  was  mad  when  I  bought  it  at  that  price.  I  had 
embezzled  money  at  my  store;  I  was  lost  else; 
I  must  have  gone  to  jail." 

"  Poor  creature,"  said  Keawe,  "  you  would  risk 
your  soul  upon  so  desperate  an  adventure,  and 
to  avoid  the  proper  punishment  of  your  own  dis- 
grace; and  you  think  I  could  hesitate  with  love 
in  front  of  me.  Give  me  the  bottle,  and  the 
change  which  I  make  sure  you  have  all  ready. 
Here  is  a  five-cent  piece." 

It  was  as  Keawe  supposed;  the  young  man  had 
the  change  ready  in  a  drawer;  the  bottle  changed 
hands,  and  Keawe's  fingers  were  no  sooner 
clasped  upon  the  stalk  than  he  had  breathed  his 
wish  to  be  a  clean  man.  And,  sure  enough,  when 
he  got  home  to  his  room,  and  stripped  himself 
before  a  glass,  his  flesh  was  whole  like  an  infant's. 
And  here  was  the  strange  thing :  he  had  no  sooner 
seen  this  miracle  than  his  mind  was  changed 
within  him,  and  he  cared  naught  for  the  Chinese 
Evil,  and  little  enough  for  Kokua :  and  had  but 
the  one  thought,  that  here  he  was  bound  to  the 


i88  ISLAND   NIGHTS 

bottle  imp  for  time  and  for  eternity,  and  had  no 
better  hope  but  to  be  a  cinder  for  ever  in  the 
flames  of  hell.  Away  ahead  of  him  he  saw  them 
blaze  with  his  mind's  eye,  and  his  soul  shrank, 
and  darkness  fell  upon  the  light.  y' 

When  Keawe  came  to  himself  a  little,  he  was 
aware  it  was  the  night  when  the  band  played  at 
the  hotel.  Thither  he  went,  because  he  feared  to 
be  alone;  and  there,  among  happy  faces,  walked 
to  and  fro,  and  heard  the  tunes  go  up  and  down, 
and  saw  Berger  beat  the  measure,  and  all  the 
while  he  heard  the  flames  crackle,  and  saw  the 
red  fire  burning  in  the  bottomless  pit.  Of  a 
sudden  the  band  played  Hiki-ao-ao;  that  was  a 
song  that  he  had  sung  with  Kokua,  and  at  the 
strain  courage  returned  to  him. 

"  It  is  done  now,"  he  thought,  "  and  once  more 
let  me  take  the  good  along  with  the  evil." 

So  it  befell  that  he  returned  to  Hawaii  by  the 
first  steamer,  and  as  soon  as  it  could  be  managed 
he  was  wedded  to  Kokua,  and  carried  her  up  the 
mountain-side  to  the  Bright  House. 

Now  it  was  so  with  these  two,  that  when  they 


THE    BOTTLE    IMP  189 

were  together  Keawe's  heart  was  stilled ;  but  as 
soon  as  he  was  alone  he  fell  into  a  brooding  hor- 
ror, and  heard  the  flames  crackle,  and  saw  the 
red  fire  burn  in  the  bottomless  pit.  The  girl,  in- 
deed, had  come  to  him  wholly ;  her  heart  leaped  in 
her  side  at  sight  of  him,  her  hand  clung  to  his; 
and  she  was  so  fashioned,  from  the  hair  upon 
her  head  to  the  nails  upon  her  toes,  that  none 
could  see  her  without  joy.  She  was  pleasant  in 
her  nature.  She  had  the  good  word  always.  Full 
of  song  she  was,  and  went  to  and  fro  in  the  Bright 
House,  the  brightest  thing  in  its  three  stories, 
carolling  like  the  birds.  And  Keawe  beheld  and 
heard  her  with  delight,  and  then  must  shrink  upon 
one  side,  and  weep  and  groan  to  think  upon  the 
price  that  he  had  paid  for  her;  and  then  he  must 
dry  his  eyes,  and  wash  his  face,  and  go  and 
sit  with  her  on  the  broad  balconies,  joining  in 
her  songs,  and,  with  a  sick  spirit,  answering  her 
smiles. 

There  came  a  day  when  her  feet  began  to  be 
heavy  and  her  songs  more  rare;  and  now  it  was 
not  Keawe  only  that  would  weep  apart,  but  each 


I90  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

would  sunder  from  the  other  and  sit  in  opposite 
balconies  with  the  whole  width  of  the  Bright 
House  betwixt.  Keawe  was  so  sunk  in  his  de- 
spair, he  scarce  observed  the  change,  and  was  only 
glad  he  had  more  hours  to  sit  alone  and  brood 
upon  his  destiny,  and  was  not  so  frequently  con- 
demned to  pull  a  smiling  face  on  a  sick  heart. 
But  one  day,  coming  softly  through  the  house,  he 
heard  the  sound  of  a  child  sobbing,  and  there  was 
Kokua  rolling  her  face  upon  the  balcony  floor, 
and  weeping  like  the  lost. 

"  You  do  well  to  weep  in  this  house,  Kokua," 
he  said.  "  And  yet  I  would  give  the  head  off 
my  body  that  you  (at  least)  might  have  been 
happy." 

"  Happy !  "  she  cried.  ''  Keawe,  when  you 
lived  alone  in  your  Bright  House  you  were  the 
word  of  the  island  for  a  happy  man ;  laughter  and 
song  were  in  your  mouth,  and  your  face  was  as 
bright  as  the  sunrise.  Then  you  wedded  poor 
Kokua;  and  the  good  God  knows  what  is  amiss 
in  her  —  but  from  that  day  you  have  not  smiled. 
Oh!"   she  cried,   "what  ails  me?     I  thought   I 


THE    BOTTLE    IMP  191 

was  pretty,  and  I  knew  I  loved  him.  What  ails 
me,  that  I  throw  this  cloud  upon  my  husband?" 

"  Poor  Kokua,"  said  Keawe.  He  sat  down  by 
her  side,  and  sought  to  take  her  hand ;  but  that 
she  plucked  away.  "  Poor  Kokua,"  he  said,  again. 
"  My  poor  child  —  my  pretty.  And  I  had  thought 
all  this  while  to  spare  you !  Well,  you  shall  know 
all.  Then,  at  least,  you  will  pity  poor  Keawe; 
then  you  will  understand  how  much  he  loved  you 
in  the  past  —  that  he  dared  hell  for  your  posses- 
sion—  and  how  much  he  loves  you  still  (the  poor 
condemned  one),  that  he  can  yet  call  up  a  smile 
when  he  beholds  you." 

With  that,  he  told  her  all,  even  from  the 
beginning. 

*' You  have  done  this  for  me?"  she  cried. 
"  Ah,  well,  then  what  do  I  care !  "  and  she  clasped 
and  wept  upon  him. 

'*  Ah,  child !  "  said  Keawe,  "  and  yet,  when  I 
consider  of  the  fire  of  hell,  I  care  a  good  deal !  " 

''  Never  tell  me,"  said  she,  "  no  man  can  be 
lost  because  he  loved  Kokua,  and  no  other  fault. 
I  tell  you,   Keawe,   I   shall  save  you   with   these 


192  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

hands,  or  perish  in  your  company.  What!  you 
loved  me  and  gave  your  soul,  and  you  think  I 
will  not  die  to  save  you  in  return?" 

*'  Ah,  my  dear,  you  might  die  a  hundred  times, 
and  what  difference  would  that  make?"  he  cried, 
"  except  to  leave  me  lonely  till  the  time  comes 
of  my  damnation  ?  " 

"  You  know  nothing,"  said  she.  "  I  was  edu- 
cated in  a  school  in  Honolulu;  I  am  no  common 
girl.  And  I  tell  you  I  shall  save  my  lover.  What 
is  this  you  say  about  a  cent?  But  all  the  world  is 
not  American.  In  England  they  have  a  piece  they 
call  a  farthing,  which  is  about  half  a  cent.  Ah! 
sorrow !  "  she  cried,  "  that  makes  it  scarcely  bet- 
ter, for  the  buyer  must  be  lost,  and  we  shall  find 
none  so  brave  as  my  Keawe!  But,  then,  there  is 
France;  they  have  a  small  coin  there  which  they 
call  a  centime,  and  these  go  five  to  the  cent  or 
thereabout.  We  could  not  do  better.  Come,  Ke- 
awe, let  us  go  to  the  French  islands;  let  us  go  to 
Tahiti,  as  fast  as  ships  can  bear  us.  There  we 
have  four  centimes,  three  centimes,  two  centimes, 
one  centime;    four  possible  sales  to  come  and  go 


THE    BOTTLE    IMP  193 

on;  and  two  of  us  to  push  the  bargain.  Come, 
my  Keawe!  kiss  me,  and  banish  care.  Kokua 
will   defend  you." 

"Gift  of  God!"  he  cried.  "I  cannot  think 
that  God  will  punish  me  for  desiring  aught  so 
good !  Be  it  as  you  will,  then,  take  me  where  you 
please:  I  put  my  life  and  my  salvation  in  your 
hands." 

Early  the  next  day  Kokua  was  about  her  prep- 
arations. She  took  Keawe's  chest  that  he  went 
with  sailoring;  and  first  she  put  the  bottle  in  a 
corner,  and  then  packed  it  with  the  richest  of 
their  clothes  and  the  bravest  of  the  knick-knacks 
in  the  house.  "  For,"  said  she,  "  we  must  seem  to 
be  rich  folks,  or  who  will  believe  in  the  bottle?" 
All  the  time  of  her  preparation  she  w^as  as  gay 
as  a  bird ;  only  when  she  looked  upon  Keawe 
the  tears  would  spring  in  her  eye,  and  she  must 
run  and  kiss  him.  As  for  Keawe,  a  weight  was 
off  his  soul ;  now  that  he  had  his  secret  shared, 
and  some  hope  in  front  of  him,  he  seemed  like 
a  new  man,  his  feet  went  lightly  on  the  earth, 
and  his  breath  was  good  to  him  again.     Yet  was 


194  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

terror  still  at  his  elbow;  and  ever  and  again,  as 
the  wind  blows  out  a  taper,  hope  died  in  him,  and 
he  saw  the  flames  toss  and  the  red  fire  burn  in 
hell. 

It  was  given  out  in  the  country  they  were  gone 
pleasuring  to  the  States,  which  was  thought  a 
strange  thing,  and  yet  not  so  strange  as  the  truth, 
if  any  could  have  guessed  it.  So  they  went  to 
Honolulu  in  the  Hall,  and  thence  in  the  Uma- 
tilla to  San  Francisco  with  a  crowd  of  Haoles, 
and  at  San  Francisco  took  their  passage  by  the 
mail  brigantine,  the  Tropic  Bird,  for  Papeete,  the 
chief  place  of  the  French  in  the  south  islands. 
Thither  they  came,  after  a  pleasant  voyage,  on 
a  fair  day  of  the  Trade  wind,  and  saw  the  reef 
with  the  surf  breaking  and  Motuiti  with  its  palms, 
and  the  schooner  riding  withinside,  and  the  white 
houses  of  the  town  low  down  along  the  shore 
among  green  trees,  and  overhead  the  mountains 
and  the  clouds  of  Tahiti,  the  wise  island. 

It  was  judged  the  most  wise  to  hire  a  house, 
which  they  did  accordingly,  opposite  the  British 
Consul's,  to  make  a  great  parade  of  money,  and 


THE    BOTTLE    IMP  195 

themselves  conspicuous  with  carriages  and  horses. 
This  it  was  very  easy  to  do,  so  long  as  they  had 
the  bottle  in  their  possession ;  for  Kokua  was  more 
bold  than  Keawe,  and,  whenever  she  had  a  mind, 
called  on  the  imp  for  twenty  or  a  hundred  dol- 
lars. At  this  rate  they  soon  grew  to  be  remarked 
in  the  town;  and  the  strangers  from  Hawaii, 
their  riding  and  their  driving,  the  fine  holokus, 
and  the  rich  lace  of  Kokua,  became  the  matter  of 
much  talk. 

They  got  on  well  after  the  first  with  the  Tahi- 
tian  language,  which  is  indeed  like  to  the  Ha- 
waiian, with  a  change  of  certain  letters;  and  as 
soon  as  they  had  any  freedom  of  speech,  began 
to  push  the  bottle.  You  are  to  consider  it  was 
not  an  easy  subject  to  introduce;  it  was  not  easy 
to  persuade  people  you  are  in  earnest,  when  you 
offer  to  sell  them  for  four  centimes  the  spring 
of  health  and  riches  inexhaustible.  It  was  neces- 
sary besides  to  explain  the  dangers  of  the  bottle, 
and  either  people  disbelieved  the  whole  thing  and 
laughed,  or  they  thought  the  more  of  the  darker 
part,    became    overcast    v.ith    gravity,    and    drew 


196  ISLAND   NIGHTS 

away  from  Keawe  and  Kokua,  as  from  persons 
who  had  deaHngs  with  the  devil.  So  far  from 
gaining  ground,  these  two  began  to  find  they 
were  avoided  in  the  town;  the  children  ran 
away  from  them  screaming,  a  thing  intolerable 
to  Kokua;  Catholics  crossed  themselves  as 
they  went  by;  and  all  persons  began  with  one 
accord  to  disengage  themselves  from  their 
advances. 

Depression  fell  upon  their  spirits.  They  would 
sit  at  night  in  their  new  house,  after  a  day's  weari- 
ness, and  not  exchange  one  word,  or  the  silence 
would  be  broken  by  Kokua  bursting  suddenly 
into  sobs.  Sometimes  they  would  pray  together; 
sometimes  they  would  have  the  bottle  out  upon 
the  floor,  and  sit  all  evening  watching  how  the 
shadow  hovered  in  the  midst.  At  such  times  they 
would  be  afraid  to  go  to  rest.  It  was  long  ere 
slumber  came  to  them,  and,  if  either  dozed  off,  it 
would  be  to  wake  and  find  the  other  silently  weep- 
ing in  the  dark,  or,  perhaps,  to  wake  alone,  the 
other  having  fled  from  the  house  and  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  that  bottle,  to  pace  under  the  bananas 


THE    BOTTLE    IMP  197 

in  the  little  garden,  or  to  wander  on  the  beach  by 

moonlight. 

One  night  it  was  so  when  Kokua  awoke.  Ke- 
awe  was  gone.  She  felt  in  the  bed  and  his  place 
was  cold.  Then  fear  fell  upon  her,  and  she  sat  up 
in  bed.  A  little  moonshine  filtered  through  the 
shutters.  The  room  was  bright,  and  she  could 
spy  the  bottle  on  the  floor.  Outside  it  blew 
high,  the  great  trees  of  the  avenue  cried  aloud, 
and  the  fallen  leaves  rattled  in  the  veranda.  In 
the  midst  of  this  Kokua  was  aware  of  another 
sound;  whether  of  a  beast  or  of  a  man  she  could 
scarce  tell,  but  it  was  as  sad  as  death,  and  cut  her 
to  the  soul.  Softly  she  arose,  set  the  door  ajar, 
and  looked  forth  into  the  moonlit  yard.  There, 
under  the  bananas,  lay  Keawe,  his  mouth  in  the 
dust,  and  as  he  lay  he  moaned. 

It  was  Kokua's  first  thought  to  run  forward 
and  console  him ;  her  second  potently  withheld  her. 
Keawe  had  borne  himself  before  his  wife  like  a 
brave  man ;  it  became  her  little  in  the  hour  of 
weakness  to  intrude  upon  his  shame.  With  the 
thought  she  drew  back  into  the  house. 


198  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

*'  Heaven,"  she  thought,  "  how  careless  have  I 
been  —  how  weak !  It  is  he,  not  I,  that  stands 
in  this  eternal  peril ;  it  was  he,  not  I,  that  took 
the  curse  upon  his  soul.  It  is  for  my  sake,  and 
for  the  love  of  a  creature  of  so  little  worth  and 
such  poor  help,  that  he  now  beholds  so  close  to 
him  the  flames  of  hell  —  ay,  and  smells  the  smoke 
of  it,  lying  without  there  in  the  wind  and  moon- 
light. Am  I  so  dull  of  spirit  that  never  till  now 
I  have  surmised  my  duty,  or  have  I  seen  it  be- 
fore and  turned  aside?  But  now,  at  least,  I  take 
up  my  soul  in  both  the  hands  of  my  affection; 
now  I  say  farewell  to  the  white  steps  of  heaven 
and  the  waiting  faces  of  my  friends.  A  love  for 
a  love,  and  let  mine  be  equalled  with  Keawe's! 
A  soul  for  a  soul,  and  be  it  mine  to  perish !  " 

She  was  a  deft  woman  with  her  hands,  and  was 
soon  apparelled.  She  took  in  her  hands  the  change 
—  the  precious  centimes  they  kept  ever  at  their 
side;  for  this  coin  is  little  used,  and  they  had 
made  provision  at  a  government  office.  When 
she  was  forth  in  the  avenue  clouds  came  on  the 
wind,   and  the  moon  was  blackened.     The  town 


THE    BOTTLE    IMP  199 

slept,  and  she  knew  not  whither  to  turn  till  she 
heard  one  coughing  in  the  shadow  of  the  trees. 

*'  Old  man,"  said  Kokua,  "  what  do  you  here 
abroad  in  the  cold  night?" 

The  old  man  could  scarce  express  himself  for 
coughing,  but  she  made  out  that  he  was  old  and 
poor,  and  a  stranger  in  the  island. 

"  Will  you  do  me  a  service?  "  said  Kokua.  "  As 
one  stranger  to  another,  and  as  an  old  man  to 
a  young  woman,  will  you  help  a  daughter  of 
Hawaii?" 

''  Ah,"  said  the  old  man.  "  So  you  are  the 
witch  from  the  eight  islands,  and  even  my  old 
soul  you  seek  to  entangle.  But  I  have  heard  of 
you,  and  defy  your  wickedness." 

"  Sit  down  here,"  said  Kokua,  '*  and  let  me 
tell  you  a  tale."  And  she  told  him  the  story  of 
Keawx  from  the  beginning  to  the  end. 

'*  And  now,"  said  she,  "  I  am  his  w^ife,  whom 
he  bought  with  his  soul's  welfare.  And  what 
should  I  do?  If  I  went  to  him  myself  and  offered 
to  buy  it,  he  will  refuse.  But  if  you  go,  he  will 
sell   it  eagerly;  I  will  await  you  here;  you  will 


200  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

buy  it  for  four  centimes,  and  I  will  buy  it  again 
for  three.  And  the  Lord  strengthen  a  poor 
girl!" 

"  If  you  meant  falsely,"  said  the  old  man,  "  I 
think  God  would  strike  you  dead." 

"  He  would !  "  cried  Kokua.  "  Be  sure  he 
would.  I  could  not  be  so  treacherous,  God 
would  not  suffer  it." 

"  Give  me  the  four  centimes  and  await  me 
here,"  said  the  old  man. 

Now,  when  Kokua  stood  alone  in  the  street, 
her  spirit  died.  The  wind  roared  in  the  trees, 
and  it  seemed  to  her  the  rushing  of  the  flames 
of  hell;  the  shadows  towered  in  the  light  of  the 
street  lamp,  and  they  seemed  to  her  the  snatch- 
ing hands  of  evil  ones.  If  she  had  had  the 
strength,  she  must  have  run  away,  and  if  she  had 
had  the  breath  she  must  have  screamed  aloud; 
but,  in  truth,  she  could  do  neither,  and  stood  and 
trembled  in  the  avenue,  like  an  affrighted  child. 

Then  she  saw  the  old  man  returning,  and  he 
had  the  bottle  in  his  hand. 

"  I  have  done  your  bidding,"  said  he,  "  I  left 


THE    BOTTLE    IMP  201 

your  husband  weeping  like  a  child;  to-night  he 
will  sleep  easy."     And  he  held  the  bottle  forth. 

"  Before  you  give  it  me,"  Kokua  panted,  "  take 
the  good  with  the  evil  —  ask  to  be  delivered  from 
your  cough." 

"  I  am  an  old  man,"  replied  the  other,  "  and 
too  near  the  gate  of  the  grave  to  take  a  favour 
from  the  devil  But  what  is  this?  Why  do  you 
not  take  the  bottle?     Do  you  hesitate?" 

"  Not  hesitate !  "  cried  Kokua.  "  I  am  only 
weak.  Give  me  a  moment.  It  is  my  hand  re- 
sists, my  flesh  shrinks  back  from  the  accursed 
thing.     One  moment  only !  " 

The  old  man  looked  upon  Kokua  kindly. 
"Poor  child!"  said  he,  "you  fear:  your  soul 
misgives  you.  Well,  let  me  keep  it.  I  am  old, 
and  can  never  more  be  happy  in  this  world,  and 
as  for  the  next " 

"  Give  it  me !  "  gasped  Kokua.  "  There  is  your 
money.  Do  you  think  I  am  so  base  as  that? 
Give  me  the  bottle." 

"  God  bless  you,  child,"  said  the  old  man. 

Kokua  concealed  the  bottle  under  her  holoku, 


202  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

said  farewell  to  the  old  man,  and  walked  off  along 
the  avenue,  she  cared  not  whither.  For  all  roads 
were  now  the  same  to  her,  and  led  equally  to 
hell.  Sometimes  she  walked,  and  sometimes  ran; 
sometimes  she  screamed  out  loud  in  the  night, 
and  sometimes  lay  by  the  wayside  in  the  dust 
and  wept.  All  that  she  had  heard  of  hell  came 
back  to  her;  she  saw  the  flames  blaze,  and  she 
smelled  the  smoke,  and  her  flesh  withered  on  the 
coals. 

Near  day  she  came  to  her  mind  again,  and 
returned  to  the  house.  It  was  even  as  the  old 
man  said  —  Keawe  slumbered  like  a  child.  Ko- 
kua  stood  and  gazed  upon  his  face. 

"  Now,  my  husband,"  said  she,  "  it  is  your  turn 
to  sleep.  When  you  wake  it  will  be  your  turn 
to  sing  and  laugh.  But  for  poor  Kokua,  alas! 
that  meant  no  evil  —  for  poor  Kokua  no  more 
sleep,  no  more  singing,  no  more  delight,  whether 
in  earth  or  Heaven." 

With  that  she  lay  down  in  the  bed  by  his  side, 
and  her  misery  was  so  extreme  that  she  fell  in  a 
deep  slumber  instantly. 


THE    BOTTLE    IMP  203 

Late  in  the  morning  her  husband  woke  her 
and  gave  her  the  good  news.  It  seemed  he  was 
silly  with  delight,  for  he  paid  no  heed  to  her  dis- 
tress, ill  though  she  dissembled  it.  The  words 
stuck  in  her  mouth,  it  mattered  not ;  Keawe  did 
the  speaking.  She  ate  not  a  bite,  but  who  was  to 
observe  it?  For  Keawe  cleared  the  dish.  Kokua 
saw  and  heard  him,  like  some  strange  thing  in  a 
dream;  there  were  times  w^hen  she  forgot  or 
doubted,  and  put  her  hands  to  her  brow ;  to  know 
herself  doomed  and  hear  her  husband  babble, 
seemed  so  monstrous. 

All  the  while  Keawe  was  eating  and  talking, 
and  planning  the  time  of  their  return,  and  thank- 
ing her  for  saving  him,  and  fondling  her,  and 
calling  her  the  true  helper  after  all.  He  laughed 
at  the  old  man  that  was  fool  enough  to  buy  that 
bottle. 

*'  A  worthy  old  man  he  seemed,"  Keawe  said. 
"  But  no  one  can  judge  by  appearances.  For  why 
did  the  old  reprobate  require  the  bottle?" 

"  My  husband,"  said  Kokua,  humbly,  "  his  pur- 
pose may  have  been  good." 


204  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

Keawe  laughed  like  an  angry  man. 

"  Fiddle-de-dee !  "  cried  Keawe.  "  An  old  rogue, 
I  tell  you ;  and  an  old  ass  to  boot.  For  the  bottle 
was  hard  enough  to  sell  at  four  centimes;  and  at 
three  it  will  be  quite  impossible.  The  margin  is 
not  broad  enough,  the  thing  begins  to  smell  of 
scorching  —  brrr !  "  said  he,  and  shuddered.  ''  It 
is  true  I  bought  it  myself  at  a  cent,  when  I  knew 
not  there  were  smaller  coins.  I  was  a  fool  for  my 
pains ;  there  will  never  be  found  another,  and  who- 
ever has  that  bottle  now  will  carry  it  to  the  pit." 

"  O  my  husband !  "  said  Kokua.  "  Is  it  not  a 
terrible  thing  to  save  oneself  by  the  eternal  ruin 
of  another?  It  seems  to  me  I  could  not  laugh. 
I  would  be  humbled.  I  would  be  filled  with  mel- 
ancholy.    I  would  pray  for  the  poor  holder." 

Then  Keawe,  because  he  felt  the  truth  of  what 
she  said,  grew  the  more  angry.  ''  Heighty- 
teighty !  "  cried  he.  "  You  may  be  filled  with 
melancholy  if  you  please.  It  is  not  the  mind  of 
a  good  wife.  If  you  thought  at  all  of  me,  you 
would  sit  shamed." 

Thereupon  he  went  out,  and  Kokua  was  alone. 


THE    BOTTLE    IMP  205 

What  chance  had  she  to  sell  that  bottle  at  two 
centimes?  None,  she  perceived.  And  if  she  had 
any,  here  was  her  husband  hurrying  her  away 
to  a  country  where  there  was  nothing  lower  than 
a  cent.  And  here  —  on  the  morrow  of  her  sac- 
rifice —  was  her  husband  leaving  her  and  blaming 
her. 

She  would  not  even  try  to  profit  by  what  time 
she  had,  but  sat  in  the  house,  and  now  had  the 
bottle  out  and  viewed  it  with  unutterable  fear, 
and  now,  with  loathing,  hid  it  out  of  sight. 

By  and  by,  Keawe  came  back,  and  would  have 
her  take  a  drive. 

"  My  husband,  I  am  ill,"  she  said.  "  I  am  out 
of  heart.     Excuse  me,  I  can  take  no  pleasure." 

Then  was  Keawe  more  wroth  than  ever.  With 
her,  because  he  thought  she  was  brooding  over 
the  case  of  the  old  man ;  and  with  himself,  because 
he  thought  she  was  right,  and  was  ashamed  to  be 
so  happy. 

"  This  is  your  truth,"  cried  he,  "  and  this  your 
affection !  Your  husband  is  just  saved  from 
eternal   ruin,   which  he  encountered   for  the  love 


2o6  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

of  you  —  and  you  can  take  no  pleasure !  Kokua, 
you  have  a  disloyal  heart." 

He  went  forth  again  furious,  and  wandered 
in  the  town  all  day.  He  met  friends,  and  drank 
with  them;  they  hired  a  carriage  and  drove  into 
the  country,  and  there  drank  again.  All  the  time 
Keawe  was  ill  at  ease,  because  he  was  taking  this 
pastime  while  his  wife  was  sad,  and  because  he 
knew  in  his  heart  that  she  was  more  right  than 
he;  and  the  knowledge  made  him  drink  the 
deeper. 

Now,  there  was  an  old  brutal  Haole  drinking 
with  him,  one  that  had  been  a  boatswain  of  a 
whaler  —  a  runaway,  a  digger  in  gold  mines,  a 
convict  in  prisons.  He  had  a  low  mind  and  a 
foul  mouth;  he  loved  to  drink  and  to  see  others 
drunken;  and  he  pressed  the  glass  upon  Keawe. 
Soon  there  was  no  more  money  in  the  company. 

"  Here,  you !  "  says  the  boatswain,  "  you  are 
rich,  you  have  been  always  saying.  You  have  a 
bottle  or  some  foolishness." 

"  Yes,"  says  Keawe,  ''  I  am  rich ;  I  will  go  back 
and  get  some  money  from  my  wife,  who  keeps  it." 


THE    BOTTLE    IMP  207 

"  That 's  a  bad  idea,  mate,"  said  the  boat- 
swain. "  Never  you  trust  a  petticoat  with  dol- 
lars. They  're  all  as  false  as  water ;  you  keep 
an   eye  on  her.'' 

Now,  this  w^ord  struck  in  Keawe's  mind ;  for 
he  was  muddled  with  what  he  had  been  drinking. 

"  I  should  not  wonder  but  she  was  false,  in- 
deed," thought  he.  "  Why  else  should  she  be 
so  cast  down  at  my  release?  But  I  w^ill  show  her 
I  am  not  the  man  to  be  fooled.  I  will  catch  her 
in  the  act." 

Accordingly,  w^hen  they  were  back  in  town, 
Keawe  bade  the  boatswain  wait  for  him  at  the 
corner,  by  the  old  calaboose,  and  went  forward  up 
the  avenue  alone  to  the  door  of  his  house.  The 
night  had  come  again;  there  was  a  light  within, 
but  never  a  sound ;  and  Keawe  crept  about  the  cor- 
ner, opened  the  back  door  softly,  and  looked  in. 

There  was  Kokua  on  the  floor,  the  lamp  at  her 
side;  before  her  was  a  milk-white  bottle,  with  a 
round  belly  and  a  long  neck;  and  as  she  viewed 
it,  Kokua  wrung  her  hands. 

A  long  time   Keawe   stood   and  looked   in   the 


2o8  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

doorway.  At  first  he  was  struck  stupid ;  and  then 
fear  fell  upon  him  that  the  bargain  had  been 
made  amiss,  and  the  bottle  had  come  back  to  him 
as  it  came  at  San  Francisco ;  and  at  that  his  knees 
were  loosened,  and  the  fumes  of  the  wine  departed 
from  his  head  like  mists  off  a  river  in  the  morn- 
ing. And  then  he  had  another  thought;  and  it 
was  a  strange  one,  that  made  his  cheeks  to  burn. 

"  I  must  make  sure  of  this,"  thought  he. 

So  he  closed  the  door,  and  went  softly  round 
the  corner  again,  and  then  came  noisily  in,  as 
though  he  were  but  now  returned.  And,  lo!  by 
the  time  he  opened  the  front  door  no  bottle  was 
to  be  seen;  and  Kokua  sat  in  a  chair  and  started 
up  like  one  awakened  out  of  sleep. 

"  I  have  been  drinking  all  day  and  making 
merry,"  said  Keawe.  "  I  have  been  with  good  com- 
panions, and  now  I  only  come  back  for  money, 
and  return  to  drink  and  carouse  with  them  again." 

Both  his  face  and  voice  were  as  stern  as  judg- 
ment, but  Kokua  was  too  troubled  to  observe. 

"  You  do  well  to  use  your  own,  my  husband," 
said  she,  and  her  words  trembled. 


THE    BOTTLE    IMP  209 

"  Oh,  I  do  well  in  all  things,"  said  Keawe, 
and  he  went  straight  to  the  chest  and  took  out 
money.  But  he  looked  besides  in  the  corner 
where  they  kept  the  bottle,  and  there  was  no 
bottle  there. 

At  that  the  chest  heaved  upon  the  floor  like  a 
sea-billow,  and  the  house  span  about  him  like  a 
wreath  of  smoke,  for  he  saw  she  was  lost  now, 
and  there  was  no  escape.  *'  It  is  what  I  feared," 
he  thought.     "  It  is  she  who  has  bought  it." 

And  then  he  came  to  himself  a  little  and  rose 
up;  but  the  sweat  streamed  on  his  face  as  thick 
as  the  rain  and  as  cold  as  the  well-water. 

"  Kokua,"  said  he,  ''  I  said  to  you  to-day  what 
ill  became  me.  Now  I  return  to  house  with  my 
jolly  companions,"  and  at  that  he  laughed  a  little 
quietly.  "  I  will  take  more  pleasure  in  the  cup 
if  you  forgive  me." 

She  clasped  his  knees  in  a  moment;  she  kissed 
his  knees  with  flowing  tears. 

"Oh,"  she  cried,  "I  asked  but  a  kind  word!" 

"  Let  us  never  one  think  hardly  of  the  other," 
said  Keawe,  and  was  gone  out  of  the  house. 

14 


2IO  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

Now,  the  money  that  Keawe  had  taken  was 
only  some  of  that  store  of  centime  pieces  they  had 
laid  in  at  their  arrival.  It  was  very  sure  he  had  no 
mind  to  be  drinking.  His  wife  had  given  her 
soul  for  him,  now  he  must  give  his  for  hers;  no 
other  thought  was  in  the  world  with  him. 

At  the  corner,  by  the  old  calaboose,  there  was 
the  boatswain  waiting. 

"  My  wife  has  the  bottle,"  said  Keawe,  "  and, 
unless  you  help  me  to  recover  it,  there  can  be  no 
more  money  and  no  more  liquor  to-night." 

"  You  do  not  mean  to  say  you  are  serious  about 
that  bottle?"  cried  the  boatswain. 

"  There  is  the  lamp,"  said  Keawe.  "  Do  I  look 
as  if  I  was  jesting?  " 

"  That  is  so,"  said  the  boatswain.  "  You  look 
as  serious  as  a  ghost." 

"  Well,  then,"  said  Keawe,  "  here  are  two  cen- 
times; you  must  go  to  my  wife  in  the  house,  and 
offer  her  these  for  the  bottle,  which  (if  I  am  not 
much  mistaken)  she  will  give  you  instantly.  Bring 
it  to  me  here,  and  I  will  buy  it  back  from  you 
for  one;  for  that  is  the  law  with  this  bottle,  that 


THE    BOTTLE    IMP  211 

it  still  must  be  sold  for  a  less  sum.  But  whatever 
you  do,  never  breathe  a  word  to  her  that  you 
have  come  from  me." 

"  Mate,  I  wonder  are  you  making  a  fool  of 
me?"  asked  the  boatswain. 

"  It  will  do  you  no  harm  if  I  am,"  returned 
Keawe. 

"  That  is  so,  mate,"  said  the  boatswain. 

"  And  if  you  doubt  me,"  added  Keawe,  "  you 
can  try.  As  soon  as  you  are  clear  of  the  house, 
wish  to  have  your  pocket  full  of  money,  or  a 
bottle  of  the  best  rum,  or  what  you  please,  and 
you  will  see  the  virtue  of  the  thing." 

"  Very  well.  Kanaka,"  says  the  boatswain. 
"  I  will  try ;  but  if  you  are  having  your  fun  out 
of  me,  I  will  take  my  fun  out  of  you  with  a 
belaying-pin." 

So  the  whaler-man  went  off  up  the  avenue; 
and  Keawe  stood  and  waited.  It  was  near  the 
same  spot  where  Kokua  had  waited  the  night 
before;  but  Keawe  was  more  resolved,  and  never 
faltered  in  his  purpose;  only  his  soul  was  bitter 
with  despair. 


212  ISLAND   NIGHTS 

It  seemed  a  long  time  he  had  to  wait  before 
he  heard  a  voice  singing  in  the  darkness  of  the 
avenue.  He  knew  the  voice  to  be  the  boatswain's ; 
but  it  was  strange  how  drunken  it  appeared  upon 
a  sudden. 

Next  the  man  himself  came  stumbling  into  the 
light  of  the  lamp.  He  had  the  devil's  bottle  but- 
toned in  his  coat;  another  bottle  was  In  his  hand; 
and  even  as  he  came  in  view  he  raised  it  to  his 
mouth  and  drank. 

"You  have  it,"  said  Keawe.     "I  see  that." 

"  Hands  off !  "  cried  the  boatswain,  jumping 
back.  "  Take  a  step  near  me,  and  I  '11  smash 
your  mouth.  You  thought  you  could  make  a  cat's 
paw  of  me,  did  you  ?  " 

"  What  do  you  mean  ?  "  cried  Keawe. 

"Mean?"  cried  the  boatswain.  "This  is  a 
pretty  good  bottle,  this  is ;  that 's  what  I  mean. 
How  I  got  it  for  two  centimes  I  can't  make  out; 
but  I  am  sure  you  sha'n't  have  it  for  one." 

"  You  mean  you  won't  sell  ?  "  gasped  Keawe. 

"  No,  sir."  cried  the  boatswain.  "  But  I  '11  give 
you  a  drink  of  the  rum,  if  you  like." 


THE    BOTTLE    IMP  213 

"  I  tell  you,"  said  Keawe,  "  the  man  who  has 
that  bottle  goes  to  hell." 

"  I  reckon  I  'm  going  anyway,"  returned  the 
sailor ;  "  and  this  bottle  's  the  best  thing  to  go  with 
I  Ve  struck  yet.  No,  sir !  "  he  cried  again,  "  this 
is  my  bottle  now,  and  you  can  go  and  fish  for 
another." 

"  Can  this  be  true?  "  Keawe  cried.  "  For  your 
own  sake,  I  beseech  you,  sell  it  me !  " 

"  I  don't  value  any  of  your  talk,"  replied  the 
boatswain.  "  You  thought  I  was  a  flat,  now  you 
see  I  'm  not ;  and  there  's  an  end.  If  you  won't 
have  a  swallow  of  the  rum,  I  '11  have  one  myself. 
Here  's  your  health,  and  good-night  to  you !  " 

So  off  he  went  down  the  avenue  toward  town, 
and  there  goes  the  bottle  out  of  the  story. 

But  Keawe  ran  to  Kokua  light  as  the  wind ; 
and  great  was  their  joy  that  night;  and  great, 
since  then,  has  been  the  peace  of  all  their  days  in 
the  Bright  House. 


THE    ISLE    OF    VOICES 


THE    ISLE    OF    VOICES 

KEOLA  was  married  with  Lehua,  daughter 
of  Kalamake,  the  wise  man  of  Molokai, 
and  he  kept  his  dweUing  with  the  father 
of  his  wife.  There  was  no  man  more  cunning 
than  that  prophet;  he  read  the  stars,  he  could 
divine  by  the  bodies  of  the  dead,  and  by  the 
means  of  evil  creatures :  he  could  go  alone  into 
the  highest  parts  of  the  mountain,  into  the  re- 
gion of  the  hobgoblins,  and  there  he  would  lay 
snares  to  entrap  the  spirits  of  ancient. 

For  this  reason  no  man  was  more  consulted 
in  all  the  Kingdom  of  Hawaii.  Prudent  people 
bought,  and  sold,  and  married,  and  laid  out  their 
lives  by  his  counsels;  and  the  King  had  him 
twice  to  Kona  to  seek  the  treasures  of  Kame- 
hameha.  Neither  was  any  man  more  feared :  of 
his   enemies,   some   had   dwindled   in   sickness   by 

Copyright,  1892,  1893,  ^^95,  by  Robert  Louis  Stevenson. 


2i8  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

the  virtue  of  his  incantations,  and  some  had  been 
spirited  away,  the  Hfe  and  the  clay  both,  so  that 
folk  looked  in  vain  for  so  much  as  a  bone  of 
their  bodies.  It  was  rumoured  that  he  had  the 
art  or  the  gift  of  the  old  heroes.  Men  had  seen 
him  at  night  upon  the  mountains,  stepping  from 
one  cliff  to  the  next;  they  had  seen  him  walking 
in  the  high  forest,  and  his  head  and  shoulders 
were  above  the  trees. 

This  Kalamake  was  a  strange  man  to  see.  He 
was  come  of  the  best  blood  in  Molokai  and  Maui, 
of  a  pure  descent;  and  yet  he  was  more  white 
to  look  upon  than  any  foreigner;  his  hair  the 
colour  of  dry  grass,  and  his  eyes  red  and  very 
blind,  so  that  "  Blind  as  Kalamake  that  can  see 
across  to-morrow,'*  was  a  by-word  in  the  islands. 

Of  all  these  doings  of  his  father-in-law,  Keola 
knew  a  little  by  the  common  repute,  a  little  more 
he  suspected,  and  the  rest  he  ignored.  But  there 
was  one  thing  troubled  him.  Kalamake  was  a 
man  that  spared  for  nothing,  whether  to  eat  or 
to  drink  or  to  wear;  and  for  all  he  paid  in 
bright  new  dollars.     "  Bright  as  Kalamake's  dol- 


THE    ISLE    OF    VOICES      219 

lars,"  was  another  saying  in  the  Eight  Isles.  Yet 
he  neither  sold,  nor  planted,  nor  took  hire  —  only 
now  and  then  from  his  sorceries  —  and  there 
was  no  source  conceivable  for  so  much  silver 
coin. 

It  chanced  one  day  Keola's  w^ife  was  gone  upon 
a  visit  to  Kaunakakai  on  the  lee  side  of  the  island, 
and  the  men  were  forth  at  the  sea-fishing.  But 
Keola  was  an  idle  dog,  and  he  lay  in  the  ve- 
randa and  watched  the  surf  beat  on  the  shore 
and  the  birds  fly  about  the  cliff.  It  was  a  chief 
thought  w^ith  him  always  —  the  thought  of  the 
bright  dollars.  When  he  lay  down  to  bed  he 
w^ould  be  w^ondering  why  they  were  so  many, 
and  when  he  woke  at  morn  he  would  be  wonder- 
ing why  they  were  all  new;  and  the  thing  was 
never  absent  from  his  mind.  But  this  day  of  all 
days  he  made  sure  in  his  heart  of  some  dis- 
covery. For  it  seems  he  had  observed  the  place 
where  Kalamake  kept  his  treasure,  which  was  a 
lock-fast  desk  against  the  parlour  wall,  under  the 
print  of  Kamehameha  the  fifth,  and  a  photograph 
of  Queen  Victoria  with  her  crown;    and  it  seems 


220  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

again  that,  no  later  than  the  night  before,  he 
found  occasion  to  look  in,  and  behold!  the  bag 
lay  there  empty.  And  this  was  the  day  of  the 
steamer;  he  could  see  her  smoke  off  Kalaupapa; 
and  she  must  soon  arrive  with  a  month's  goods, 
tinned  salmon  and  gin,  and  all  manner  of  rare 
luxuries  for  Kalamake. 

"  Now  if  he  can  pay  for  his  goods  to-day," 
Keola  thought,  *'  I  shall  know  for  certain  that 
the  man  is  a  warlock,  and  the  dollars  come  out 
of  the  Devil's  pocket." 

While  he  was  so  thinking,  there  was  his  father- 
in-law  behind  him,  looking  vexed. 

''  Is  that  the  steamer?  "  he  asked. 

"  Yes,"  said  Keola.  ''  She  has  but  to  call  at 
Pelekunu,  and  then  she  will  be  here." 

"  There  is  no  help  for  it  then,"  returned  Kala- 
make, "  and  I  must  take  you  in  my  confidence, 
Keola,  for  the  lack  of  any  one  better.  Come 
here  within  the  house." 

So  they  stepped  together  into  the  parlour,  which 
was  a  very  fine  room,  papered  and  hung  with 
prints,   and   furnished   with   a   rocking-chair,   and 


THE    ISLE    OF   VOICES        221 

a  table  and  a  sofa  in  the  European  style.  There 
was  a  shelf  of  books  besides,  and  a  family  Bible 
in  the  midst  of  the  table,  and  the  lock-fast  writing- 
desk  against  the  wall;  so  that  any  one  could  see 
it  was  the  house  of  a  man  of  substance. 

Kalamake  made  Keola  close  the  shutters  of  the 
windows,  while  he  himself  locked  all  the  doors 
and  set  open  the  lid  of  the  desk.  From  this  he 
brought  forth  a  pair  of  necklaces  hung  with 
charms  and  shells,  a  bundle  of  dried  herbs,  and 
the  dried  leaves  of  trees,  and  a  green  branch  of 
palm. 

"  What  I  am  about,"  said  he,  "  is  a  thing  be- 
yond wonder.  The  men  of  old  were  wise;  they 
wrought  marvels,  and  this  among  the  rest ;  but 
th.at  was  at  night,  in  the  dark,  under  the  fit  stars 
and  in  the  desert.  The  same  will  I  do  here  in 
my  own  house,  and  under  the  plain  eye  of  day." 
So  saying,  he  put  the  Bible  under  the  cushion  of 
tlie  sofa  so  that  it  was  all  covered,  brought  out 
from  the  same  place  a  mat  of  a  wonderfully  fine 
texture,  and  heaped  the  herbs  and  leaves  on  sand 
in  a  tin  pan.     And  then  he  and  Keola  put  on  thf 


222  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

necklaces,  and  took  their  stand  upon  the  opposite 
corners  of  the  mat. 

"The  time  comes,"  said  the  warlock;  "be  not 
afraid." 

With  that  he  set  flame  to  the  herbs,  and  began 
to  mutter  and  wave  the  branch  of  palm.  At  first 
the  light  was  dim  because  of  the  closed  shutters; 
but  the  herbs  caught  strongly  afire,  and  the 
flames  beat  upon  Keola,  and  the  room  glowed 
with  the  burning;  and  next  the  smoke  rose  and 
made  his  head  swim  and  his  eyes  darken,  and 
the  sound  of  Kalamake  muttering  ran  in  his  ears. 
And  suddenly,  to  the  mat  on  which  they  were 
standing  came  a  snatch  or  twitch,  that  seemed 
to  be  more  swift  than  lightning.  In  the  same 
wink  the  room  was  gone,  and  the  house,  the 
breath  all  beaten  from  Keola's  body.  Volumes 
of  sun  rolled  upon  his  eyes  and  head,  and  he 
found  himself  transported  to  a  beach  of  the  sea, 
under  a  strong  sun,  with  a  great  surf  roaring:  he 
and  the  warlock  standing  there  on  the  same  mat, 
speechless,  gasping  and  grasping  at  one  another, 
and  passing  their  hands  before  their  eyes. 


THE    ISLE    OF   VOICES       223 

"What  was  this?"  cried  Keola,  who  came  to 
himself  the  first,  because  he  was  the  younger. 
"  The  pang  of  it  was  Hke  death." 

"  It  matters  not,"  panted  Kalamake.  "  It  is 
now   done." 

"And,  in  the  name  of  God,  where  are  we?" 
cried   Keola. 

"  That  is  not  the  question,"  replied  the  sor- 
cerer. "  Being  here,  we  have  matter  in  our 
hands,  and  that  we  must  attend  to.  Go,  while 
I  recover  my  breath,  into  the  borders  of  the 
wood,  and  bring  me  the  leaves  of  such  and  such 
an  herb,  and  such  and  such  a  tree,  which  you 
will  find  to  grow  there  plentifully  —  three  hand- 
fuls  of  each.  And  be  speedy.  We  must  be  home 
again  before  the  steamer  comes;  it  would  seem 
strange  if  we  had  disappeared."  And  he  sat  on 
the  sand  and  panted. 

Keola  went  up  the  beach,  which  was  of  shin- 
ing sand  and  coral,  strewn  with  singular  shells; 
and  he  thought  in  his  heart : 

"  How  do  I  not  know  this  beach  ?  I  will  come 
here  again  and  gather  shells." 


224  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

In  front  of  him  was  a  line  of  palms  against 
the  sky;  not  like  the  palms  of  the  Eight  Islands, 
but  tall  and  fresh  and  beautiful,  and  hanging  out 
withered  fans  like  gold  among  the  green,  and  he 
thought   in  his  heart: 

"  It  is  strange  I  should  not  have  found  this 
grove.  I  will  come  here  again,  when  it  is  warm, 
to  sleep."  And  he  thought,  "  How  warm  it  has 
grown  suddenly !  "  For  it  was  winter  in  Hawaii, 
and  the  day  had  been  chill.  And  he  thought 
also,  *'  Where  are  the  grey  mountains  ?  And 
where  is  the  high  cliff  with  the  hanging  forest 
and  the  wheeling  birds  ? "  And  the  more  he 
considered,  the  less  he  might  conceive  in  what 
quarter  of  the  islands  he  was  fallen. 

In  the  border  of  the  grove,  where  it  met  the 
beach,  the  herb  was  growing,  but  the  tree  fur- 
ther back.  Now,  as  Keola  went  toward  the  tree, 
he  was  aware  of  a  young  woman  who  had  noth- 
ing on  her  body  but  a  belt  of  leaves. 

"  Well !  "  thought  Keola,  ''  they  are  not  very 
particular  about  their  dress  in  this  part  of  the 
country."     And  he  paused,  supposing  she  would 


THE    ISLE    OF   VOICES        225 

observe  him  and  escape;  and  seeing  that  she  still 
looked  before  her,  stood  and  hummed  aloud.  Up 
she  leaped  at  the  sound.  Her  face  was  ashen; 
she  looked  this  way  and  that,  and  her  mouth 
gaped  with  the  terror  of  her  soul.  But  it  was 
a  strange  thing  that  her  eyes  did  not  rest  upon 
Keola. 

"  Good-day,"  said  he.  "  You  need  not  be  so 
frightened,  I  will  not  eat  you."  And  he  had 
scarce  opened  his  mouth  before  the  young  woman 
fled  into  the  bush. 

"  These  are  strange  manners,"  thought  Keola, 
and,  not  thinking  what  he  did,  ran  after  her. 

As  she  ran,  the  girl  kept  crying  in  some  speech 
that  was  not  practised  in  Hawaii,  yet  some  of 
the  words  were  the  same,  and  he  knew  she  kept 
calling  and  warning  others.  And  presently  he 
saw  more  people  running  —  men,  women,  and 
children,  one  with  another,  all  running  and  cry- 
ing like  people  at  a  fire.  And  with  that  he  began 
to  grow  afraid  himself,  and  returned  to  Kala- 
make  bringing  the  leaves.  Him  he  told  what  he 
had  seen. 


226  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

"  You  must  pay  no  heed,"  said  Kalamake. 
*'  All  this  is  like  a  dream  and  shadows.  All 
will  disappear  and  be  forgotten." 

"  It  seemed  none  saw  me,"  said  Keola. 

"  And  none  did,"  replied  the  sorcerer.  "  We 
walk  here  in  the  broad  sun  invisible  by  reason 
of  these  charms.  Yet  they  hear  us;  and  there- 
fore it  is  well  to  speak  softly,  as  I  do." 

With  that  he  made  a  circle  round  the  mat 
with  stones,  and  in  the  midst  he  set  the  leaves. 

"  It  will  be  your  part,"  said  he,  ^'  to  keep  the 
leaves  alight,  and  feed  the  fire  slowly.  While 
they  blaze  (which  is  but  for  a  little  moment)  I 
must  do  my  errand ;  and  before  the  ashes  blacken, 
the  same  power  that  brought  us  carries  us  away. 
Be  ready  now  with  the  match ;  and  do  you  call 
me  in  good  time  lest  the  flames  burn  out  and  I 
be   left." 

As  soon  as  the  leaves  caught,  the  sorcerer 
leaped  like  a  deer  out  of  the  circle,  and  began 
to  race  along  the  beach  like  a  hound  that  has 
been  bathing.  As  he  ran,  he  kept  stooping  to 
snatch  shells;    and  it  seemed  to  Keola  that  they 


THE    ISLE    OF    VOICES        227 

glittered  as  he  took  them.  The  leaves  blazed 
with  a  clear  flame  that  consumed  thern  swiftly; 
and  presently  Keola  had  but  a  handful  left,  and 
the  sorcerer  was  far  ofif,  running  and  stopping. 

"  Back !  "  cried  Keola.  "  Back !  The  leaves  are 
near  done." 

At  that  Kalamake  turned,  and  if  he  had  run 
before,  now  he  flew.  But  fast  as  he  ran,  the 
leaves  burned  faster.  The  flame  was  ready  to 
expire  when,  with  a  great  leap,  he  bounded  on 
the  mat.  The  wind  of  his  leaping  blew  it  out; 
and  with  that  the  beach  was  gone,  and  the  sun 
and  the  sea ;  and  they  stood  once  more  in  the 
dimness  of  the  shuttered  parlour,  and  wxre  once 
more  shaken  and  blinded ;  and  on  the  mat  be- 
twixt them  lay  a  pile  of  shining  dollars.  Keola 
ran  to  the  shutters ;  and  there  was  the  steamer 
tossing  in  the  swell  close  in. 

The  same  night  Kalamake  took  his  son-in-law 
apart,  and  gave  him  five  dollars  in  his  hand. 

"  Keola,"  said  he,  "  if  you  are  a  wise  man 
(which  I  am  doubtful  of)  you  will  think  you 
slept  this  afternoon  on  the  veranda,  and  dreamed 


228  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

as  you  Vv'ere  sleeping.  I  am  a  man  of  few 
words,  and  I  have  for  my  helpers  people  of 
short  memories." 

Never  a  word  more  said  Kalamake,  nor  re- 
ferred again  to  that  affair.  But  it  ran  all  the 
while  in  Keola's  head  —  if  he  were  lazy  before, 
he  would  now  do  nothing. 

"Why  should  I  work,"  thought  he,  ''when  I 
have  a  father-in-law  who  makes  dollars  of  sea- 
shells?" 

Presently  his  share  was  spent.  He  spent  it  all 
upon  fine  clothes.     And  then  he  was  sorry: 

"  For,"  thought  he,  ''  I  had  done  better  to 
have  bought  a  concertina,  with  which  I  might 
have  entertained  myself  all  day  long."  And  then 
he  began  to  grow  vexed  with  Kalamake. 

''  This  man  has  the  soul  of  a  dog,"  thought 
he.  "  He  can  gather  dollars  when  he  pleases  on 
the  beach,  and  he  leaves  me  to  pine  for  a  con- 
certina! Let  him  beware:  I  am  no  child,  I  am 
as  cunning  as  he,  and  hold  his  secret."  With 
that  he  spoke  to  his  wife  Lehua,  and  complained 
of  her  father's  manners. 


THE    ISLE    OF   VOICES        229 

"  I  would  let  my  father  be,"  said  Lehua.  "  He 
is  a  dangerous  man  to  cross." 

''I  care  that  for  him!"  cried  Keola;  and 
snapped  his  fingers.  "  I  have  him  by  the  nose. 
I  can  make  him  do  what  I  please."  And  he 
told  Lehua  the   story. 

But  she  shook  her  head. 

''You  may  do  what  you  like,"  said  she;  ''but 
as  sure  as  you  thwart  my  father,  you  will  be  no 
more  heard  of.  Think  of  this  person,  and  that 
person;  think  of  Hua,  who  was  a  noble  of  the 
House  of  Representatives,  and  went  to  Honolulu 
every  year;  and  not  a  bone  or  a  hair  of  him 
was  found.  Remember  Kamau,  and  how  he 
wasted  to  a  thread,  so  that  his  wife  lifted  him 
with  one  hand.  Keola,  you  are  a  baby  in  my 
father's  hands;  he  will  take  you  with  his  thumb 
and  finger  and  eat  you  like  a  shrimp." 

Now  Keola  was  truly  afraid  of  Kalamake, 
but  he  was  vain  too;  and  these  words  of  his 
wife's   incensed  him. 

"  Very  well,"  said  he,  "  if  that  is  what  you 
think    of   me,    I    will    show    how    much    you    are 


230  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

deceived."  And  he  went  straight  to  where  his 
father-in-law  was  sitting  in  the  parlour. 

"  Kalamake/'  said  he,  "  I  want  a  concertina." 

"  Do  you,  indeed  ?  "  said  Kalamake. 

"  Yes,"  said  he,  *'  and  I  may  as  well  tell  you 
plainly,  I  mean  to  have  it.  A  man  who  picks 
up  dollars  on  the  beach  can  certainly  afford  a 
concertina." 

"  I  had  no  idea  you  had  so  much  spirit,"  re- 
plied the  sorcerer.  "  I  thought  you  were  a  timid, 
useless  lad,  and  I  cannot  describe  how  much 
pleased  I  am  to  find  I  was  mistaken.  Now  I 
begin  to  think  I  may  have  found  an  assistant 
and  successor  in  my  difficult  business.  A  con- 
certina? You  shall  have  the  best  in  Honolulu. 
And  to-night,  as  soon  as  it  is  dark,  you  and  I 
will  go  and  find  the  money." 

"  Shall  we  return  to  the  beach  ?  "  asked  Keola. 

"  No,  no ! "  replied  Kalamake ;  "  you  must 
begin  to  learn  more  of  my  secrets.  Last  time 
I  taught  you  to  pick  shells;  this  time  I  shall 
teach  you  to  catch  fish.  Are  you  strong  enough 
to  launch  Pili's  boat?" 


THE    ISLE    OF   VOICES        231 

"  I  think  I  am,"  returned  Keola.  "  But  why 
should  we  not  take  your  own,  which  is  afloat 
already?  " 

"  I  have  a  reason  which  you  will  understand 
thoroughly  before  to-morrow,"  said  Kalamake. 
"  Pili's  boat  is  the  better  suited  for  my  purpose. 
So,  if  you  please,  let  us  meet  there  as  soon  as  it 
is  dark;  and  in  the  meanwhile,  let  us  keep  our 
own  counsel,  for  there  is  no  cause  to  let  the 
family  into  our  business." 

Honey  is  not  more  sweet  than  was  the  voice 
of  Kalamake,  and  Keola  could  scarce  contain 
his  satisfaction. 

"  I  might  have  had  my  concertina  weeks  ago," 
thought  he,  "  and  there  is  nothing  needed  in  this 
w^orld  but  a  little  courage." 

Presently  after  he  spied  Lehua  weeping,  and 
was  half  in  a  mind  to  tell  her  all  was  well. 

"  But  no,"  thinks  he ;  ''  I  shall  wait  till  I  can 
show  her  the  concertina ;  we  shall  see  what  the 
chit  will  do  then.  Perhaps  she  will  understand 
in  the  future  that  her  husband  is  a  man  of  some 
intelligence." 


232  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

As  soon  as  it  was  dark  father  and  son-in-law 
launched  Pili's  boat  and  set  the  sail.  There  was 
a  great  sea,  and  it  blew  strong  from  the  leeward; 
but  the  boat  was  swift  and  light  and  dry,  and 
skimmed  the  waves.  The  wizard  had  a  lantern, 
which  he  lit  and  held  with  his  finger  through 
the  ring;  and  the  two  sat  in  the  stern  and 
smoked  cigars,  of  which  Kalamake  had  always 
a  provision,  and  spoke  like  friends  of  magic  and 
the  great  sums  of  money  which  they  could  make 
by  its  exercise,  and  what  they  should  buy  first, 
and  what  second;  and  Kalamake  talked  like  a 
father. 

Presently  he  looked  all  about,  and  above  him 
at  the  stars,  and  back  at  the  island,  which  was 
already  three  parts  sunk  under  the  sea,  and  he 
seemed   to  consider  ripely   his  position. 

"  Look !  "  says  he,  *'  there  is  Molokai  already 
far  behind  us,  and  Maui  like  a  cloud;  and  by 
the  bearing  of  these  three  stars  I  know  I  am 
come  where  I  desire.  This  part  of  the  sea  is 
called  the  Sea  of  the  Dead.  It  is  in  this  place 
extraordinarily  deep,  and  the  floor  is  all  covered 


THE    ISLE    OF   VOICES        233 

with  the  bones  of  men,  and  in  the  holes  of  this 
part  gods  and  gobhns  keep  their  habitation.  The 
flow  of  the  sea  is  to  the  north,  stronger  than  a 
shark  can  swim,  and  any  man  who  shall  here 
be  thrown  out  of  a  ship  it  bears  away  like  a 
wild  horse  into  the  uttermost  ocean.  Presently 
he  is  spent  and  goes  down,  and  his  bones  are 
scattered  with  the  rest,  and  the  gods  devour  his 
spirit." 

Fear  came  on  Keola  at  the  words,  and  he 
looked,  and  by  the  light  of  the  stars  and  the 
lantern,  the  warlock  seemed  to  change. 

"What  ails  you?"  cried  Keola,  quick  and 
sharp. 

"It  is  not  I  who  am  ailing,"  said  the  wizard; 
"  but  there  is  one  here  very  sick." 

With  that  he  changed  his  grasp  upon  the  lan- 
tern, and,  behold !  as  he  drew  his  finger  from 
the  ring,  the  finger  stuck  and  the  ring  was  burst, 
and  his  hand  was  grown  to  be  of  the  bigness  of 
three. 

At  that  sight  Keola  screamed  and  covered  his 
face. 


234  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

But  Kalamake  held  up  the  lantern.  "  Look 
rather  at  my  face !  "  said  he  —  and  his  head  was 
huge  as  a  barrel;  and  still  he  grew  and  grew 
as  a  cloud  grows  on  a  mountain,  and  Keola  sat 
before  him  screaming,  and  the  boat  raced  on  the 
great  seas. 

"  And  now,"  said  the  wizard,  "  what  do  you 
think  about  that  concertina?  and  are  you  sure 
you  would  not  rather  have  a  flute?  No?"  says 
he ;  "  that  is  well,  for  I  do  not  like  my  family 
to  be  changeable  of  purpose.  But  I  begin  to 
think  I  had  better  get  out  of  this  paltry  boat, 
for  my  bulk  swells  to  a  very  unusual  degree,  and 
if  we  are  not  the  more  careful,  she  will  presently 
be  swamped." 

With  that  he  threw  his  legs  over  the  side. 
Even  as  he  did  so,  the  greatness  of  the  man 
grew  thirty  fold  and  forty  fold  as  swift  as  sight 
or  thinking,  so  that  he  stood  in  the  deep  seas 
to  the  armpits,  and  his  head  and  shoulders  rose 
like  a  high  isle,  and  the  swell  beat  and  burst 
upon  his  bosom,  as  it  beats  and  breaks  against 
a  clifif.     The  boat  ran  still  to  the  north,  but  he 


THE    ISLE    OF   VOICES         235 

reached  out  his  hand,  and  took  the  gunwale  by 
tlie  finger  and  thumb,  and  broke  the  side  Hke  a 
biscuit,  and  Keola  was  spilled  into  the  sea.  And 
the  pieces  of  the  boat  the  sorcerer  crushed  in  the 
hollow  of  his  hand  and  flung  miles  aw^ay  into 
the  night. 

''  Excuse  me  taking  the  lantern,"  said  he;  **  for 
I  have  a  long  wade  before  me,  and  the  land  is 
far,  and  the  bottom  of  the  sea  uneven,  and  I  feel 
the  bones  under  my  toes." 

And  he  turned  and  went  off  walking  with 
great  strides;  and  as  often  as  Keola  sank  in 
the  trough  he  could  see  him  no  longer;  but  as 
often  as  he  was  heaved  upon  the  crest,  there  he 
was  striding  and  dwindling,  and  he  held  the 
lamp  high  over  his  head,  and  the  waves  broke 
white  about  him  as  he  went. 

Since  first  the  islands  were  fished  out  of  the 
sea,  there  was  never  a  man  so  terrified  as  this 
Keola.  He  swam  indeed,  but  he  swam  as  pup- 
pies swim  when  they  are  cast  in  to  drown,  and 
knew  not  wherefore.  He  could  but  think  of  the 
hugeness  of  the  swelling  of  the  warlock,  of  that 


236  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

face  which  was  great  as  a  mountain,  of  those 
shoulders  that  were  broad  as  an  isle,  and  of  the 
seas  that  beat  on  them  in  vain.  He  thought, 
too,  of  the  concertina,  and  shame  took  hold  upon 
him;  and  of  the  dead  men's  bones,  and  fear 
shook  him. 

Of  a  sudden  he  was  aware  of  something  dark 
against  the  stars  that  tossed,  and  a  light  below, 
and  a  brightness  of  the  cloven  sea;  and  he  heard 
speech  of  men.  He  cried  out  aloud  and  a  voice 
answered;  and  in  a  twinkling  the  bows  of  a 
ship  hung  above  him  on  a  wave  like  a  thing 
balanced,  and  swooped  down.  He  caught  with 
his  two  hands  in  the  chains  of  her,  and  the  next 
moment  was  buried  in  the  rushing  seas,  and  the 
next  hauled  on  board  by  seamen. 

They  gave  him  gin  and  biscuit  and  dry  clothes, 
and  asked  him  how  he  came  where  they  found 
him,  and  whether  the  light  which  they  had  seen 
was  the  lighthouse,  Lae  o  Ka  Laau.  But  Keola 
knew  white  men  are  like  children  and  only  be- 
lieve their  own  stories;  so  about  himself  he  told 
them    what    he    pleased,    and    as    for    the    light 


THE    ISLE    OF    VOICES        237 

(which  was  Kalamake's  lantern)  he  vowed  he 
had  seen  none. 

This  ship  was  a  schooner  bound  for  Honolulu, 
and  then  to  trade  in  the  low  islands;  and  by  a 
very  good  chance  for  Keola  she  had  lost  a  man 
off  the  bowsprit  in  a  squall.  It  was  no  use  talk- 
ing. Keola  durst  not  stay  in  the  Eight  Islands. 
Word  goes  so  quickly,  and  all  men  are  so  fond 
to  talk  and  carry  news,  that  if  he  hid  in  the 
north  end  of  Kauai  or  in  the  south  end  of  Kau, 
the  wizard  would  have  wind  of  it  before  a 
month,  and  he  must  perish.  So  he  did  what 
seemed  the  most  prudent,  and  shipped  sailor  in 
the  place  of  the  man  who  had  been  drowned. 

In  some  ways  the  ship  was  a  good  place.  The 
food  was  extraordinarily  rich  and  plenty,  with 
biscuits  and  salt  beef  every  day,  and  pea-soup 
and  puddings  made  of  flour  and  suet  twice  a 
week,  so  that  Keola  grew  fat.  The  captain  also 
was  a  good  man,  and  the  crew  no  worse  than 
other  whites.  The  trouble  was  the  mate,  who 
was  the  most  difficult  man  to  please  Keola  had 
ever   met  with,   and  beat   and   cursed   him   daily, 


238  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

both  for  what  he  did  and  what  he  did  not.  The 
blows  that  he  dealt  were  very  sure,  for  he  was 
strong;  and  the  words  he  used  were  very  un- 
palatable, for  Keola  was  come  of  a  good  family 
and  accustomed  to  respect.  And  what  was  the 
worst  of  all,  whenever  Keola  found  a  chance  to 
sleep,  there  was  the  mate  awake  and  stirring 
him  up  with  a  rope's  end.  Keola  saw  it  would 
never  do;  and  he  made  up  his  mind  to  run 
away. 

They  were  about  a  month  out  from  Hono- 
lulu when  they  made  the  land.  It  was  a  fine 
starry  night,  the  sea  was  smooth  as  well  as  the 
sky  fair;  it  blew  a  steady  Trade;  and  there  was 
the  island  on  their  weather  bow,  a  ribbon  of 
palm-trees  lying  flat  along  the  sea.  The  captain 
and  the  mate  looked  at  it  with  the  night  glass, 
and  named  the  name  of  it,  and  talked  of  it,  be- 
side the  wheel  where  Keola  was  steering.  It 
seemed  it  was  an  isle  where  no  traders  came. 
By  the  captain's  way,  it  was  an  isle  besides  where 
no  man  dwelt;   but  the  mate  thought  otherwise. 

**  I  don't  give  a  cent   for  the  directory,"   said 


THE    ISLE    OF   VOICES        239 

he.  "  I  've  been  past  here  one  night  in  the 
schooner  Eugenie:  it  was  just  such  a  night  as 
this;  they  were  fishing  with  torches,  and  the 
beach   was  thick  with  hghts  Hke  a  town." 

"  Well,  well,"  says  the  captain,  *'  it 's  steep-to, 
that 's  the  great  point ;  and  there  ain't  any  out- 
lying dangers  by  the  chart,  so  we  '11  just  hug  the 
lee  side  of  it.  Keep  her  ramping  full,  don't  I 
tell  you!"  he  cried  to  Keola,  who  was  listening 
so  hard  that  he  forgot  to  steer. 

And  the  mate  cursed  him,  and  swore  that 
Kanaka  was  for  no  use  in  the  world,  and  if 
he  got  started  after  him  with  a  belaying-pin,  it 
would  be  a  cold  day  for  Keola. 

And  so  the  captain  and  mate  lay  down  on  the 
house  together,  and  Keola  w^as  left  to  himself. 

"  This  island  will  do  very  well  for  me,"  he 
thought ;  "  if  no  traders  deal  there,  the  mate  will 
never  come.  And  as  for  Kalamake,  it  is  not 
possible  he  can  ever  get  as  far  as  this." 

With  that  he  kept  edging  the  schooner  nearer 
in.  He  had  to  do  this  quietly,  for  it  was  the 
trouble  with  these  white  men,  and  above  all  with 


240  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

the  mate,  that  you  could  never  be  sure  of  them ; 
they  would  all  be  sleeping  sound,  or  else  pre- 
tending, and  if  a  sail  shook,  they  would  jump 
to  their  feet  and  fall  on  you  with  a  rope's  end. 
So  Keola  edged  her  up  little  by  little,  and  kept 
all  drawing.  And  presently  the  land  was  close 
on  board,  and  the  sound  of  the  sea  on  the  sides 
of   it  grew   loud. 

With  that,  the  mate  sat  up  suddenly  upon  the 
house. 

"What  are  you  doing?"  he  roars.  "You'll 
have  the  ship  ashore !  " 

And  he  made  one  bound  for  Keola,  and  Keola 
made  another  clean  over  the  rail  and  plump  into 
the  starry  sea.  When  he  came  up  again,  the 
schooner  had  payed  off  on  her  true  course,  and 
the  mate  stood  by  the  wheel  himself,  and  Keola 
heard  him  cursing.  The  sea  was  smooth  under 
the  lee  of  the  island;  it  was  warm  besides,  and 
Keola  had  his  sailor's  knife,  so  he  had  no  fear 
of  sharks.  A  little  way  before  him  the  trees 
stopped;  there  was  a  break  in  the  line  of  the 
land  like  the  mouth  of  a  harbour;    and  the  tide, 


THE    ISLE    OF   VOICES        241 

which  was  then  flowing,  took  him  up  and  carried 
him  through.  One  minute  he  was  without,  and 
the  next  within,  had  floated  there  in  a  wide  shal- 
low water,  bright  with  ten  thousand  stars,  and 
all  about  him  was  the  ring  of  the  land,  with  its 
string  of  palm-trees.  And  he  was  amazed,  be- 
cause this  was  a  kind  of  island  he  had  never 
heard  of. 

The  time  of  Keola  in  that  place  was  in  two 
periods  —  the  period  when  he  was  alone,  and  the 
period  when  he  was  there  with  the  tribe.  At 
first  he  sought  everywhere  and  found  no  man; 
only  some  houses  standing  in  a  hamlet,  and  the 
marks  of  fires.  But  the  ashes  of  the  fires  were 
cold  and  the  rains  had  washed  them  away;  and 
the  winds  had  blown,  and  some  of  the  huts  were 
overthrown.  It  was  here  he  took  his  dwelling; 
and  he  made  a  fire  drill,  and  a  shell  hook,  and 
fished  and  cooked  his  fish,  and  climbed  after 
green  cocoa-nuts,  the  juice  of  which  he  drank, 
for  in  all  the  isle  there  was  no  water.  The  days 
were  long  to  him,  and  the  nights  terrifying.     He 

made  a  lamp  of  cocoa-shell,  and  drew  the  oil  of 

46 


242  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

the  ripe  nuts,  and  made  a  wick  of  fibre;  and 
when  evening  came  he  closed  up  his  hut,  and  Ht 
his  lamp,  and  lay  and  trembled  till  morning. 
Many  a  time  he  thought  in  his  heart  he  would 
have  been  better  in  the  bottom  of  the  sea,  his 
bones   rolling  there  with  the  others. 

All  this  while  he  kept  by  the  inside  of  the 
island,  for  the  huts  were  on  the  shore  of  the 
lagoon,  and  it  was  there  the  palms  grew  best, 
and  the  lagoon  itself  abounded  w^ith  good  fish. 
And  to  the  outer  side  he  went  once  only,  and 
he  looked  but  once  at  the  beach  of  the  ocean, 
and  came  away  shaking.  For  the  look  of  it,  with 
its  bright  sand,  and  strewn  shells,  and  strong 
sun  and  surf,  went  sore  against  his  inclination. 

"  It  cannot  be,"  he  thought,  "  and  yet  it  is 
very  like.  And  how  do  I  know?  These  white 
men,  although  they  pretend  to  know  where  they 
are  sailing,  must  take  their  chance  like  other 
people.  So  that  after  all  we  may  have  sailed 
in  a  circle,  and  I  may  be  quite  near  to  Molokai, 
and  this  may  be  the  very  beach  where  my  father- 
in-law  gathers  his  dollars." 


THE    ISLE    OF   VOICES        243 

So  after  that  he  was  prudent,  and  kept  to  the 
land-side.  ^ 

It  was  perhaps  a  month  later,  when  the  people 
of  the  place  arrived  —  the  fill  of  six  great  boats. 
They  were  a  fine  race  of  men,  and  spoke  a  tongue 
that  sounded  very  different  from  the  tongue  of 
Hawaii,  but  so  many  of  the  w^ords  were  the  same 
that  it  was  not  difficult  to  understand.  The  men 
besides  were  very  courteous,  and  the  women  very 
towardly;  and  they  made  Keola  welcome,  and 
built  him  a  house,  and  gave  him  a  wife;  and 
what  surprised  him  the  most,  he  was  never  sent 
to  work  with  the  young  men. 

And  now  Keola  had  three  periods.  First  he 
had  a  period  of  being  very  sad,  and  then  he  had 
a  period  when  he  was  pretty  merry.  Last  of  all 
came  the  third,  when  he  was  the  most  terrified 
man  in  the  four  oceans. 

The  cause  of  the  first  period  was  the  girl  he 
had  to  wife.  He  was  in  doubt  about  the  island, 
and  he  might  have  been  in  doubt  about  the 
speech,  of  which  he  had  heard  so  little  when  he 
came  there   with   the   wizard   on   the   mat.      But 


244  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

about  his  wife  there  was  no  mistake  conceivable, 
for  she  was  the  same  girl  that  ran  from  him 
crying  in  the  wood.  So  he  had  sailed  all  this 
way,  and  might  as  well  have  stayed  in  Molokai; 
and  had  left  home  and  wife  and  all  his  friends 
for  no  other  cause  but  to  escape  his  enemy,  and 
the  place  he  had  come  to  was  that  wizard's 
hunting-ground,  and  the  place  where  he  walked 
invisible.  It  was  at  this  period  when  he  kept  the 
most  close  to  the  lagoon-side,  and  as  far  as  he 
dared,  abode  in  the  cover  of  his  hut. 

The  cause  of  the  second  period  was  talk  he 
heard  from  his  wife  and  the  chief  islanders. 
Keola  himself  said  little.  He  was  never  so  sure 
of  his  new  friends,  for  he  judged  they  were  too 
civil  to  be  wholesome,  and  since  he  had  grown 
better  acquainted  w^ith  his  father-in-law  the  man 
had  grown  more  cautious.  So  he  told  them  noth- 
ing of  himself,  but  only  his  name  and  descent,  and 
that  he  came  from  the  Eight  Islands,  and  what 
fine  islands  they  were;  and  about  the  King's 
palace  in  Honolulu,  and  how  he  was  a  chief 
friend  of  the   King  and   the  missionaries.      But 


THE    ISLE    OF   VOICES        245 

he  put  many  questions  and  learned  much.  The 
island  where  he  was  was  called  the  Isle  of 
Voices ;  it  belonged  to  the  tribe,  but  they  made 
their  home  upon  another,  three  hours'  sail  to  the 
southward.  There  they  lived  and  had  their  per- 
manent houses,  and  it  was  a  rich  island,  where 
were  eggs  and  chickens  and  pigs,  and  ships  came 
trading  with  rum  and  tobacco.  It  was  there  the 
schooner  had  gone  after  Keola  deserted;  there, 
too,  the  mate  had  died,  like  the  fool  of  a  white 
man  as  he  was.  It  seems,  when  the  ship  came, 
it  was  the  beginning  of  the  sickly  season  in  that 
isle,  when  the  fish  of  the  lagoon  are  poisonous, 
and  all  who  eat  of  them  swell  up  and  die.  The 
mate  w^as  told  of  it;  he  saw  the  boats  prepar- 
ing, because  in  that  season  the  people  leave  that 
island  and  sail  to  the  Isle  of  Voices;  but  he 
was  a  fool  of  a  white  man,  who  would  believe 
no  stories  but  his  own,  and  he  caught  one  of 
these  fish,  cooked  it  and  ate  it,  and  swelled  up 
and  died,  which  was  good  news  to  Keola.  As 
for  the  Isle  of  Voices,  it  lay  solitary  the  most 
part   of   the   year,    only   now    and   then   a   boat's 


246  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

crew  came  for  copra,  and  in  the  bad  season,  when 
the  fish  at  the  main  isle  were  poisonous,  the  tribe 
dwelt  there  in  a  body.  It  had  its  name  from  a 
marvel,  for  it  seemed  the  sea-side  of  it  was  all  be- 
set with  invisible  devils;  day  and  night  you  heard 
them  talking  one  with  another  in  strange  tongues; 
day  and  night  little  fires  blazed  up  and  were  ex- 
tinguished on  the  beach;  and  what  was  the  cause 
of  these  doings  no  man  might  conceive.  Keola 
asked  them  if  it  were  the  same  in  their  own  island 
where  they  stayed,  and  they  told  him  no,  not  there ; 
nor  yet  in  any  other  of  some  hundred  isles  that 
lay  all  about  them  in  that  sea;  but  it  was  a  thing 
peculiar  to  the  Isle  of  Voices.  They  told  him 
also  that  these  fires  and  voices  were  ever  on  the 
sea-side  and  in  the  seaward  fringes  of  the  wood, 
and  a  man  might  dwell  by  the  lagoon  two  thou- 
sand years  (if  he  could  live  so  long)  and  never 
be  any  way  troubled ;  and  even  on  the  sea-side  the 
devils  did  no  harm  if  let  alone.  Only  once  a  chief 
had  cast  a  spear  at  one  of  the  voices,  and  the  same 
night  he  fell  out  of  a  cocoanut-palm  and  was  killed. 
Keola  thought  a  good  bit  with  himself.    He  saw 


THE    ISLE    OF   VOICES        247 

he  would  be  all  right  when  the  tribe  returned  to 
the  main  island,  and  right  enough  where  he  was, 
if  he  kept  by  the  lagoon,  yet  he  had  a  mind  to 
make  things  righter  if  he  could.  So  he  told  the 
high  chief  he  had  once  been  in  an  isle  that  was 
pestered  the  same  way,  and  the  folk  had  found  a 
means  to  cure  that  trouble. 

"  There  was  a  tree  growing  in  the  bush  there," 
says  he,  "  and  it  seems  these  devils  came  to  get 
the  leaves  of  it.  So  the  people  of  the  isle  cut  down 
the  tree  wherever  it  was  found,  and  the  devils  came 
no  more." 

They  asked  wdiat  kind  of  a  tree  this  was,  and  he 
showed  them  the  tree  of  which  Kalamake  burned 
the  leaves.  They  found  it  hard  to  believe,  yet  the 
idea  tickled  them.  Night  after  night  the  old  men 
debated  it  in  their  councils,  but  the  high  chief 
(though  he  was  a  brave  man)  was  afraid  of  the 
matter,  and  reminded  them  daily  of  the  chief  who 
cast  a  spear  against  the  voices  and  was  killed,  and 
the  thought  of  that  brought  all  to  a  stand  again. 

Though  he  could  not  yet  bring  about  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  trees,  Keola  was  well  enough  pleased, 


248  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

and  began  to  look  about  him  and  take  pleasure  in 
his  days;  and,  among  other  things,  he  was  tl^e 
kinder  to  his  wife,  so  that  the  girl  began  to  love 
him  greatly.  One  day  he  came  to  the  hut,  and  she 
lay  on  the  ground  lamenting. 

"  Why,"  said  Keola,  ''  what  is  wrong  with  you 
now?  " 

She  declared  it  was  nothing. 

The  same  night  she  woke  him.  The  lamp 
burned  very  low,  but  he  saw  by  her  face  she  was 
in  sorrow. 

"  Keola,"  she  said,  "  put  your  ear  to  my  mouth 
that  I  may  whisper,  for  no  one  must  hear  us. 
Two  days  before  the  boats  begin  to  be  got  ready, 
go  you  to  the  sea-side  of  the  isle  and  lie  in  a 
thicket.  We  shall  choose  that  place  beforehand, 
you  and  I ;  and  hide  food ;  and  every  night  I 
shall  come  near  by  there  singing.  So  w^hen  a 
night  comes  and  you  do  not  hear  me,  you  shall 
know  we  are  clean  gone  out  of  the  island,  and 
you  may  come   forth  again   in   safety." 

The  soul  of  Keola  died  within  him. 

"What   is   this?"    he   cried.      ''I   cannot   live 


THE    ISLE    OF   VOICES        249 

among  devils.     I  will  not  be  left  behind  upon  this 
isle.     I  am  dying  to  leave  it." 

^'  You  will  never  leave  it  alive,  my  poor  Keola," 
said  the  girl ;  "  for  to  tell  you  the  truth,  my  people 
are  eaters  of  men  ;  but  this  they  keep  secret.  And 
the  reason  they  will  kill  you  before  we  leave  is 
because  in  our  island  ships  come,  and  Donat- 
Kimaran  comes  and  talks  for  the  French,  and 
there  is  a  white  trader  there  in  a  house  with  a 
veranda,  and  a  catechist.  Oh,  that  is  a  fine 
place  indeed!  The  trader  has  barrels  filled  with 
flour;  and  a  French  warship  once  came  in  the 
lagoon  and  gave  everybody  wine  and  biscuit. 
Ah,  my  poor  Keola,  I  wish  I  could  take  you 
there,  for  great  is  my  love  to  you,  and  it  is  the 
finest  place  in  the  seas  except  Papeete." 

So  now  Keola  was  the  most  terrified  man  in 
the  four  oceans.  He  had  heard  tell  of  eaters 
of  men  in  the  south  islands,  and  the  thing  had 
always  been  a  fear  to  him ;  and  here  it  was 
knocking  at  his  door.  He  had  heard  besides,  by 
travellers,  of  their  practices,  and  how  when  they 
are  in   a  mind   to  eat   a  man,   they   cherish   and 


250  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

fondle  him  like  a  mother  with  a  favourite  baby. 
And  he  saw  this  must  be  his  own  case;  and  that 
was  why  he  had  been  housed,  and  fed,  and  wived, 
and  liberated  from  all  work;  and  why  the  old 
men  and  the  chiefs  discoursed  with  him  like  a 
person  of  weight.  So  he  lay  on  his  bed  and 
railed  upon  his  destiny;  and  the  flesh  curdled 
on  his  bones. 

The  next  day  the  people  of  the  tribe  were  very 
civil,  as  their  way  was.  They  were  elegant 
speakers,  and  they  made  beautiful  poetry,  and 
jested  at  meals,  so  that  a  missionary  must  have 
died  laughing.  It  was  little  enough  Keola  cared 
for  their  fine  ways;  all  he  saw  was  the  white 
teeth  shining  in  their  mouths,  and  his  gorge 
rose  at  the  sight;  and  when  they  were  done 
eating,  he  went  and  lay  in  the  bush  like  a  dead 
man. 

The  next  day  it  was  the  same,  and  then  his 
wife  followed  him. 

"  Keola,"  she  said,  "  if  you  do  not  eat,  I  tell 
you  plainly  you  will  be  killed  and  cooked  to- 
morrow.     Some   of   the   old   chiefs   are  murmur- 


THE    ISLE    OF   VOICES        251 

ing  already.  They  think  you  are  faUen  sick  and 
must  lose  flesh." 

With  that  Keola  got  to  his  feet,  and  anger 
burned   in   him. 

''  It  is  little  I  care  one  way  or  the  other,"  said 
he.  ''  I  am  between  the  devil  and  the  deep  sea. 
Since  die  I  must,  let  me  die  the  quickest  way; 
and  since  I  must  be  eaten  at  the  best  of  it,  let 
me  rather  be  eaten  by  hobgoblins  than  by  men. 
Farewell,"  said  he,  and  he  left  her  standing,  and 
walked  to  the  sea-side  of  that  island. 

It  was  all  bare  in  the  strong  sun;  there  was 
no  sign  of  man,  only  the  beach  was  trodden, 
and  all  about  him  as  he  went,  the  voices  talked 
and  whispered,  and  the  little  fires  sprang  up  and 
burned  down.  All  tongues  of  the  earth  were 
spoken  there :  the  French,  the  Dutch,  the  Rus- 
sian, the  Tamil,  the  Chinese.  Whatever  land 
knew  sorcery,  there  were  some  of  its  people 
whispering  in  Keola's  ear.  That  beach  was 
thick  as  a  cried  fair,  yet  no  man  seen ;  and  as 
he  walked  he  saw  the  shells  vanish  before  him, 
and  no  man  to  pick  them  up.     I  think  the  devil 


252  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

would  have  been  afraid  to  be  alone  in  such  a 
company;  but  Keola  was  past  fear  and  courted 
death.  When  the  fires  sprang  up,  he  charged  for 
them  like  a  bull.  Bodiless  voices  called  to  and 
fro;  unseen  hands  poured  sand  upon  the  flames; 
and  they  were  gone  from  the  beach  before  he 
reached  them. 

"  It  is  plain  Kalamake  is  not  here,"  he  thought, 
'*  as  I  must  have  been  killed  long  since." 

With  that  he  sat  him  down  in  the  margin  of 
the  wood,  for  he  was  tired,  and  put  his  chin 
upon  his  hands.  The  business  before  his  eyes 
continued;  the  beach  babbled  with  voices,  and 
the  fires  sprang  up  and  sank,  and  the  shells  van- 
ished and  were  renewed  again  even  while  he 
looked. 

"  It  was  a  by-day  when  I  was  here  before," 
he  thought,   "  for   it   was  nothing  to   this." 

And  his  head  was  dizzy  with  the  thought  of 
these  millions  and  millions  of  dollars,  and  all 
these  hundreds  and  hundreds  of  persons  culling 
them  upon  the  beach  and  flying  in  the  air  higher 
and  swifter  than  eagles. 


THE    ISLE    OF   VOICES         2S3 

"  And  to  think  how  they  have  fooled  me  with 
their  talk  of  mints,"  says  he,  "  and  that  money 
was  made  there,  when  it  is  clear  that  all  the 
new  coin  in  all  the  world  is  gathered  on  these 
sands !  But  I  will  know  better  the  next  time !  " 
said  he. 

And  at  last,  he  knew  not  very  well  how  or 
when,  sleep  fell  on  Keola,  and  he  forgot  the 
island  and  all  his  sorrows. 

Early  the  next  day,  before  the  sun  was  yet  up, 
a  bustle  woke  him.  He  awoke  in  fear,  for  he 
thought  the  tribe  had  caught  him  napping;  but 
it  was  no  such  matter.  Only,  on  the  beach  in 
front  of  him,  the  bodiless  voices  called  and  shouted 
one  upon  another,  and  it  seemed  they  all  passed 
and  swept  beside  him  up  the  coast  of  the  island. 

"  What  is  afoot  now  ?  "  thinks  Keola.  And  it 
was  plain  to  him  it  was  something  beyond  ordi- 
nary, for  the  fires  were  not  lighted  nor  the  shells 
taken,  but  the  bodiless  voices  kept  posting  up  the 
beach,  and  hailing  and  dying  away;  and  others 
following,  and  by  the  sound  of  them  these  wiz- 
ards should  be  angry. 


254  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

"  It  is  not  me  they  are  angry  at/*  thought 
Keola,  ''  for  they  pass  me  close." 

As  when  hounds  go  by,  or  horses  in  a  race, 
or  city  folk  coursing  to  a  fire,  and  all  men  join 
and  follow  after,  so  it  was  now  with  Keola; 
and  he  knew  not  what  he  did,  nor  why  he  did 
it,  but  there,  lo  and  behold !  he  was  running  with 
the  voices. 

So  he  turned  one  point  of  the  island,  and  this 
brought  him  in  view  of  a  second;  and  there  he 
remembered  the  wizard  trees  to  have  been  grow- 
ing by  the  score  together  in  a  wood.  From  this 
point  there  went  up  a  hubbub  of  men  crying  not 
to  be  described ;  and  by  the  sound  of  them,  those 
that  he  ran  with  shaped  their  course  for  the  same 
quarter.  A  little  nearer,  and  there  began  to 
mingle  with  the  outcry  the  crash  of  many  axes. 
And  at  this  a  thought  came  at  last  into  his  mind 
that  the  high  chief  had  consented ;  that  the  men 
of  the  tribe  had  set  to  cutting  down  these  trees ; 
that  word  had  gone  about  the  isle  from  sorcerer 
to  sorcerer,  and  these  were  all  now  assembling 
*:o  defend  their  trees.     Desire  of  strange  things 


THE    ISLE    OF   VOICES        2ss 

swept  him  on.  He  posted  with  the  voices,  crossed 
the  beach,  and  came  into  the  borders  of  the 
wood,  and  stood  astonished.  One  tree  had  fallen, 
others  were  part  hewed  away.  There  was  the 
tribe  clustered.  They  were  back  to  back,  and 
bodies  lay,  and  blood  flowed  among  their  feet. 
The  hue  of  fear  was  on  all  their  faces;  their 
voices  went  up  to  heaven  shrill  as  a  weasel's  cry. 

Have  you  seen  a  child  w^hen  he  is  all  alone 
and  has  a  wooden  sword,  and  fights,  leaping  and 
hewing  with  the  empty  air?  Even  so  the  man- 
eaters  liuddled  back  to  back,  and  heaved  up  their 
axes,  and  laid  on,  and  screamed  as  they  laid 
on,  and  behold!  no  man  to  contend  with  them! 
only  here  and  there  Keola  saw  an  axe  swinging 
over  against  them  without  hands ;  and  time  and 
again  a  man  of  the  tribe  would  fall  before  it, 
clove  in  twain  or  burst  asunder,  and  his  soul 
sped   howling. 

For  awhile  Keola  looked  upon  this  prodigy  like 
one  tiiat  dreams,  and  then  fear  took  him  by  the 
midst  as  sharp  as  death,  that  he  should  behold 
such  doings.     Even  in  that  same  flash  the  high 


256  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

chief  of  the  dan  espied  him  standing,  and  pointed 
and  called  out  his  name.  Thereat  the  whole  tribe 
saw  him  also,  and  their  eyes  flashed,  and  their 
teeth  clashed. 

"  I  am  too  long  here,"  thought  Keola,  and  ran 
farther  out  of  the  wood  and  down  the  beach, 
not  caring  whither. 

"  Keola !  "  said  a  voice  close  by  upon  the  empty 
sand. 

"Lehua!  is  that  you!"  he  cried,  and  gasped, 
and  looked  in  vain  for  her;  but  by  the  eyesight 
he  was  stark  alone. 

"I  saw  you  pass  before,"  the  voice  answered; 
"  but  you  would  not  hear  me.  Quick  1  get  the 
leaves  and  the  herbs,  and  let  us  flee." 

"  You  are  there  with  the  mat?  "  he  asked. 

"  Here,  at  your  side,"  said  she.  And  he  felt 
her  arms  about  him.  "Quick!  the  leaves  and 
the  herbs,  before  my  father  can  get  back !  " 

So  Keola  ran  for  his  life,  and  fetched  the 
wizard  fuel;  and  Lehua  guided  him  back,  and 
set  his  feet  upon  the  mat,  and  made  the  fire. 
All   the  time  of   its  burning,   the   sound   of  the 


THE    ISLE    OF   VOICES        ^157 

battle  towered  out  of  the  wood;  the  wizards  and 
the  man-eaters  hard  at  fight;  the  wizards,  the 
viewless  ones,  roaring  out  aloud  like  bulls  upon 
a  mountain,  and  the  men  of  the  tribe  replying 
shrill  and  savage  out  of  the  terror  of  their  souls. 
And  all  the  time  of  the  burning,  Keola  stood 
there  and  listened,  and  shook,  and  watched  how 
the  unseen  hands  of  Lehua  poured  the  leaves. 
She  poured  them  fast,  and  the  flame  burned  high, 
and  scorched  Keola's  hands;  and  she  speeded 
and  blew  the  burning  wath  her  breath.  The 
last  leaf  was  eaten,  the  flame  fell,  and  the  shock 
followed,  and  there  were  Keola  and  Lehua  in 
the  room  at  home. 

Now,  when  Keola  could  see  his  wife  at  last 
he  was  mighty  pleased,  and  he  was  mighty 
pleased  to  be  home  again  in  Molokai  and  sit 
down  beside  a  bowl  of  poi  —  for  they  make  no 
poi  on  board  ships,  and  there  was  none  in  the 
Isle  of  Voices  —  and  he  was  out  of  the  body 
with  pleasure  to  be  clean  escaped  out  of  the 
hands  of  the  eaters  of  men.  But  there  was 
another  matter  not  so  clear,  and  Lehua  and  Keola 

»7 


258  ISLAND    NIGHTS 

talked  of  it  all  night  and  were  troubled.  There 
was  Kalamake  left  upon  the  isle.  If,  by  the 
blessing  of  God,  he  could  but  stick  there,  all 
were  well;  but  should  he  escape  and  return  to 
Molokai,  it  would  be  an  ill  day  for  his  daugh- 
ter and  her  husband.  They  spoke  of  his  gift  of 
swelling,  and  whether  he  could  wade  that  dis- 
tance in  the  seas.  But  Keola  knew  by  this  time 
where  that  island  was  —  and  that  is  to  say,  in 
the  Low  or  Dangerous  Archipelago.  So  they 
fetched  the  atlas  and  looked  upon  the  distance 
in  the  map,  and  by  what  they  could  make  of  it, 
it  seemed  a  far  way  for  an  old  gentleman  to 
walk.  Still,  it  would  not  do  to  make  too  sure  of 
a  warlock  like  Kalamake,  and  they  determined  at 
last  to  take  counsel  of  a  white  missionary. 

So  the  first  one  that  came  by  Keola  told  him 
everything.  And  the  missionary  was  very  sharp 
on  him  for  taking  the  second  wife  in  the  low 
island;  but  for  all  the  rest,  he  vowed  he  could 
make  neither  head  nor  tail  of  it. 

"  However,"  says  he,  "  if  you  think  this  money 
of   your    father's    ill-gotten,    my    advice   to   you 


THE    ISLE    OF   VOICES        259 

would  be  give  some  of  it  to  the  lepers  and  some 
to  the  missionary  fund.  And  as  for  this  ex- 
traordinary rigmarole,  you  cannot  do  better  than 
keep  it  to  yourselves." 

But  he  warned  the  police  at  Honolulu  that,  by 
all  he  could  make  out,  Kalamake  and  Keola  had 
been  coining  false  money,  and  it  would  not  be 
amiss  to  watch  them. 

Keola  and  Lehua  took  his  advice,  and  gave 
many  dollars  to  the  lepers  and  the  fund.  And 
no  doubt  the  advice  must  have  been  good,  for 
from  that  day  to  this,  Kalamake  has  never  more 
been  heard  of.  But  whether  he  was  slain  in  the 
battle  by  the  trees,  or  whether  he  is  still  kick- 
ing his  heels  upon  the  Isle  of  Voices,  who  shall 
say? 


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WILL  INCREASE  TO  50  CENTS  ON  THE  FOURTH 
DAY  AND  TO  $I.OO  ON  THE  SEVENTH  DAY 
OVERDUE. 


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